New 4D ultrasound photographs of babies in the womb show them reacting to different foods their mothers have just eaten. The babies are shown smiling at the taste of carrots, while they wince at the taste of kale.
Scientists from Durham University recorded scans of 100 pregnant women for their study. The research was conducted during the later stages of pregnancy. The findings also suggest that what a mother eats during pregnancy can influence babies’ taste preferences after birth.
It is nice to see the attention this latest research is receiving in the media but it is also very noticeable the way the unborn babies are mostly referred to in the reports as ‘babies’ and not “foetuses”.
When babies at the same gestational stage are being aborted they are routinely referred to as foetuses in media reports. The inconsistencies and motivations that lie behind the different ways these babies are referred to is something that demands more attention.
It is also worth pointing out that the Oireachtas Committee on abortion chaired by former Senator Catherine Noone which claimed to take an “exhaustive” look at the issue prior to the 2018 referendum never spent a single second of its time looking at the developmental stages of the unborn child in the womb or issues relating to when human life begins.