Pro-lifers get an elephantine boost: A TV documentary from inside animal wombs raises questions

WHEN does an elephant become an elephant? That is the question. Atleast it's the one that popped into my mind as I viewed images froman upcoming National Geographic documentary: "In the Womb: Animals."

The film, scheduled to air Dec. 10, may be the best weapon yet forthe pro-life movement. That wasn't the purpose of the documentary -the first ever to record animals in the womb - but these images ofgestating life pack a powerful wallop.

The mind makes a natural leap to questions of how we consider andtreat the pre-born.

Let's just say that the thought of aborting a baby elephant, evenin the earliest gestational stages, is repugnant in a way thattranscends intellectual arguments about constitutional rights toprivacy.

The images were captured with 4-D ultrasound scans and enhancedwith computer graphics. In the elephant's case, suffice it to saythey took a backdoor approach.

Nice elephant.

Other stars of the film are a puppy and a dolphin. We watch thegolden retriever fetus perform full-grown dog behaviors in the womb,a dolphin learn to swim inside its mother, and the elephant grow froma single cell to a 260-pound, well, elephant.

Seeing similar images of a human fetus - blinking, sucking histhumb and responding to sounds - is equally amazing, of course. Butsomething about these animals in utero breathes fresh air into thelife debate.

Why? Because they're so adorable, helpless and vulnerable.

It's the puppy reflex. With the exception of the occasional massmurderer, people see a puppy and go Awwww. They want to cuddle it.

Most people have the same reflex with human babies, too, but as asociety, we've managed to emotionally distance ourselves from thehuman fetus. To think of it as cute or human would make abortion amuch tougher choice.

Within the context of abortion, ultrasounds of human fetuses are,in fact, controversial. Pro-life pregnancy counselors are consideredmanipulative and intimidating when they show a pregnant womanconsidering abortion an ultrasound of her fetus.

Pro-choice advocates recently protested when President Bushappointed Massachusetts OB-GYN Eric Keroack to the federal family-planning office - in part because of his connection to a pregnancycounseling service that offers ultrasound imaging.

To be fair, Keroack does have some odd ideas. He contends, forexample, that contraception is damaging to women because it thwartstheir procreative power.

He also has compared premarital sex to drug addiction and saysit's damaging to marriage.

Whether premarital sex is addictive, I can't say, but marriage iscertainly an effective antidote.

Keroack's opposition to birth control is problematic, given thathis job involves administering funds to groups that provide birthcontrol, primarily to low-income women.

Otherwise, his ideas about pregnancy counseling are sensible. I'velong argued that education is the best tool in reducing abortion.Show girls and women their child in utero and abortion will eliminateitself.

Now we have another tool. That is, if we're really serious aboutreducing abortion. Take "In the Womb" to every classroom in Americaand let students do their own free-associating.

When the tears are dry - audiences reportedly weep at this film -abortion will seem inconceivable. Who could destroy an unborn puppy?

We Americans are suckers for animals, often displaying greaterempathy for them than for people.

Be honest. In movie battle scenes, whose deaths bother you more -men's or the horses'?

Thought so.

Walt Disney figured this out a long time ago. He anthropomorphizeda cartoon creature named Bambi and deer hunters have been despisedever since. Show children and teenagers Dumbo, Flipper and Old Yellerin the womb, and they'll extrapolate all by themselves. No fire andbrimstone necessary.

Adults, ever effective in obfuscating the obvious, apparently havea tougher time. Recently, a federal appeals court heard argumentsaimed at the essential life question: When does a human being becomea human being?

The case was related to a South Dakota "informed consent" law thatwould have required doctors to tell women contemplating abortion thatthe operation would "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique,living human being."

The court ruled 2-1 against enforcement of the law.

We may not be able to define when a human being becomes a humanbeing, but even children know this much: An elephant doesn't becomean elephant without first being a single cell.

Parker may be reached by e-mail at kparker@kparker.com..