Your Words Betray You
I was in Western Australia recently and my high school science teacher and his wife graciously hosted me and my son for Sunday lunch and dinner. In Canada back in the late 1980s, he taught me chemistry, physics, and biology. Thirty years ago, they moved to Australia where he’s been teaching since.
One of the cool things about Mr. V. is his persistent curiosity. He told me how he’s often listening to various podcasts. One of them is “Science with Dr. Karl,” a podcast produced here in Australia. He recommended I give Dr. Karl a listen.
So on my flight home to Tasmania, I took him up on that recommendation. The podcast features Dr. Karl answering listeners’ science-related questions. One of the very first questions on this episode had to do with pregnancy.
The listener asked about the suppression of the immune system during pregnancy. Incredibly, a woman’s body knows the difference between a baby and a pathogen. In order to allow the baby to grow in the uterus, the woman’s body automatically lowers immune response. As a result, a woman who gets cancer during pregnancy would be much more likely to succumb to the disease. Dr. Karl credited this phenomenon to “distributed intelligence” in the body. Our brains contain a significant portion of human intelligence, but there’s also intelligence in our immune system.
There were three really interesting things in this part of the episode.
The first was the incredible way the human body was designed by God. Dr. Karl isn’t a Christian (so far as I know), but a Christian listens to this description of how we were created and recognizes God’s handiwork. Immune system intelligence which can distinguish between a baby and a pathogen – that’s amazing.
Second, pro-choice rhetoric sometimes describes the unborn child as a “parasite.” They portray the unborn human being as an invader, akin to bacteria or viruses. A pregnant woman’s mouth might say that, but her intelligent immune system is saying something else.
Finally, throughout this part of the episode Dr. Karl, his co-host, and the listener consistently referred to the unborn human being as a “baby.” They didn’t say “fetus” or “embryo.” They didn’t say “product of human conception.” It was all “baby” from beginning to end. I’m new to Dr. Karl’s podcast, but I’m going to guess he’s not a pro-life advocate. Very few public media figures are. Yet everyone’s words on his podcast shouted the pro-life position.
So I want to say thank you to Dr. Karl for showing forth God’s handiwork in creation, as well as for underlining the reality of unborn human life. And thanks Mr. V. for introducing me to Dr. Karl! After all these years, I’m still blessed to learn from you.
