An American biology student has exposed the pro-abortion bias of her lecturer by leaking a picture of a slide used to describe the phenomenon of a 'parasite.' The slide compares a human baby with a cancerous tumour, describing the fetus as a 'legitimate' parasite, while rightly portraying the cancer cells as hostile to the body.

It reads, "a human fetus: legitimate parasite/rapidly grows/invades/manipulates immunity of mother/reshapes blood cells", while the cancer 'crashes the party/rapidly grows/invades/manipulates immunity/reshapes blood vessels." 

No joke, a friend just sent me this slide from her upper-level biology course.

I'm speechless. Create your own caption. pic.twitter.com/4sS6AvdRV1

— Dylan Griswold (@DylanPGriswold) April 25, 2019

The lecturer then responded, saying that 'mammals are more prone to invasive cancers' since they 'have evolved invasive placentation', and denied that he had made an attempt to equate a human child with a tumor. [Note: the entire thread can be reading by clicking on the image above and scrolling through the comments below it.] Dr Griswold was then quick to defend the humanity of the pre-born child, stating that the lecturer's wording dehumanised the fetus. Dr Griswold went on to make the following points:

"A baby in the womb is a parasite by definition." False: A baby in the womb is homospecific. The baby is the same species as the mother, whose body is specifically geared to gestate a baby of her own species while it lives inside her. The same cannot be said of a tapeworm.

A parasite is an invading organism - coming to parasitize the host from an outside source. A fetus is formed from a fertilized egg -- the egg coming from an inside source, being formed in the ovary of the mother from where it moves into the oviduct where it may be fertilized. 

The host-parasite relationship is one of conflict, while the mother-baby relationship is intrinsically cooperative.  Consider the immunology of the two. Host and parasite are locked in an arms race: the parasite evolves ever more complex techniques of avoidance, while the host evolves ever more complex techniques of detection and attack. Meanwhile, mother and baby cooperate to prevent immunological conflict. The site of this cooperation is the placenta.

The fetus cannot be viewed as a tumor robbing the mother of nutrients. Ironically, if the mother’s health is compromised, the placenta restricts nutrient flow to the fetus to ensure the mother’s long-term health, with the prospects that the fetus can still grow and develop. Instead of being passive tissue that absorbs available nutrients from the mother, the placenta dynamically distributes nutrients between mother and fetus, optimally ensuring the health of both mother and developing baby.

As so many places of learning continue to slide into the position of promoting abortion by default, it's encouraging to see intelligent pro-life doctors calling out the bias of their colleagues when they see it.  

Settled Science

It may be tempting to defend the lecturer's explanation by thinking this topic has only recently begun to be debated. But that is clearly not true; medical doctors have been debunking the 'fetus as parasite' theory for decades. Take, for example, this concise rebuttal, written back in 1974, by Dr Thomas L Johnson. Johnson was a Professor of Biology and a member of Libertarians for Life, and listed eight differences between a biological parasite and a human embryo/fetus. Here are three of Dr Johnson's points which are additional to Dr Griswold's points given above:

1. a) When a parasite invades a host, the host will usually respond by forming antibodies in response to the somatic antigens (molecules comprising the body of the parasite) or metabolic antigens (molecules secreted or excreted by the parasite) of the parasite. Parasitism usually involves an immunological response on the part of the host. (See Cheng, T.C., General Parasitology, p. 8.)

   b) New evidence, presented by Beer and Billingham in their article, "The Embryo as a Transplant" (Scientific American, April, 1974), indicates that the mother does react to the presence of the embryo by producing humoral antibodies, but they suggest that the trophoblast -- the jacket of cells surrounding the embryo -- blocks the action of these antibodies and therefore the embryo or fetus is not rejected. This reaction is unique to the embryo-mother relationship.

2. a) A parasite is generally detrimental to the reproductive capacity of the invaded host. The host may be weakened, diseased or killed by the parasite, thus reducing or eliminating the host's capacity to reproduce.

   b) A human embryo or fetus is absolutely essential to the reproductive capacity of the involved mother (and species). The mother is usually not weakened, diseased or killed by the presence of the embryo or fetus, but rather is fully tolerant of this offspring which mustbegin his or her life in this intimate and highly specialized relationship with the mother.

3. a) A parasite is an organism that, once it invades the definitive host, will usually remain with host for life (as long as it or the host survives).

   b) A human embryo or fetus has a temporary association with the mother, remaining only a number of months in the uterus.