In a fascinating article from the September-November 2005 issue of Creation magazine, author Alex Williams details for us how the unborn child defends itself against its mother, confirming that it is a separate human being from the start.

In a landmark 1998 paper, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, USA, found that the mammalian embryo (they worked with mice) produces a special enzyme, called indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, or “IDO,” which suppresses the mother’s T cell reaction and allows pregnancy to proceed. Follow-up work in humans revealed the same effect, and it was also demonstrated that the IDO was produced on the embryo side of the placental membrane (which separates mother from child) and not on the mother’s side. Further work in mice showed that IDO production peaked during the formation of the placenta—the most crucial time for establishing that vital link between mother and child. And the most recent work in humans has established beyond doubt that IDO is a specific mechanism at the mother-child interface for preventing the mother’s immune system from rejecting the child.

But what does this have to do with abortion? Well, a common argument in favour of abortion is that a mother has the right to control what happens to her own body. However, this research shows very clearly that the baby is not part of the mother’s body.

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