Dear Future President,

I have a little niece or nephew who will be born in a little over seven months. We don’t know the sex yet, but we can see his or her adorably tiny arms and legs through the ultrasound. A few weeks ago, my brother sent my mom and I the video of the first ultrasound, where the baby was just an oval encompassing a flickering light. The heartbeat. My mother broke down and started sobbing when she saw the message. She finally has a grandchild, something she has been yearning for over the past four years. She knew her grandchild is alive. All because of the heartbeat.

Looking at the ultrasound, I was amazed. I don’t live near my extended family, so, before now, I was never able to experience first-hand the joys of a family member expecting a child. The ultrasounds, the excitement of the baby developing body parts, it is all a new experience. But the heartbeat was first. Even though the baby was only a couple weeks old, it had a heartbeat. It had a heart.

Hearts symbolize love. Why else would you always see hearts around Valentine’s Day?

Hearts symbolize emotion. How would a girl feel if her boyfriend breaks up with her? She’d be heartbroken (assuming that she actually loved the boy).

Most importantly, hearts symbolize life. The heart beats, it pumps blood through my body. The heartbeats get quicker when I run, slower when I rest.

When a man’s heart stops, he stops.

Forever.

Hearts don’t just symbolize life; they determine life.

Babies inside their mother have a heartbeat. Even only a week or two after conception. That means they’re officially alive at that point, yes? That’s the only thing that makes them alive?

No. Being alive means that you have at least one cell, as a cell “is the smallest unit of an organism that carries on the functions of life” (Biggs 14). And babies fulfill that requirement as soon as they are conceived: the sperm and the egg join to form a zygote, which consists of only one cell.

When you condone abortion, or even support abortion, you are condoning or supporting the death of a living being. A living being. He or she is alive.

That baby has cells. That baby has a heartbeat. That baby is alive.

My niece or nephew has cells. My niece or nephew has a heartbeat. My niece or nephew is alive. Yet by condoning abortion, you condone his or her death.

I have cells. I have a heartbeat. I am alive. Do you condone my death?

With new life, there's new hope. With each baby, hope is present. Opportunity is present. My niece or nephew could be the next Oscar-winning movie star, the next chart-topping singer, the next Nobel-prize-winning neurosurgeon, the next bestselling author. The presence of a baby in the world presents infinite opportunities. The baby could cure cancer. The baby could establish peace in the Middle East. The baby could change the world. The baby could change one person's world. Each life makes a difference in another person's life.

When you condone abortion, you crush this hope for new life. You remove the opportunity for greatness. You destroy a chance to change the world.

And I watch as you cause this hope, this light, to sputter. It flickers ever slower. With one last dramatic pulse, it fades and dies.

Sincerely, Tamra

Works Cited:

Biggs, Alton, et al. Life Science. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2002.

“Fetal development: The 1st trimester.” The Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 10 July 2014, http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/pregnancy-week-by-week/in-depth/prenatal-care/art-20045302. Accessed 27 October 2016.