A Prayer for Blessing of a Child in the Womb
The “Prayer for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb” was crafted to support parents awaiting the birth of their child, to encourage prayers for, and recognition of the precious gift of the child in the womb, and to foster respect for human life within society.
Prayer
God, author of all life,
bless, we pray, this unborn child;
give constant protection and grant a healthy birth
that is the sign of our rebirth one day
into the eternal rejoicing of heaven.
Human Conception: The Beginning of Life
There is much confusion and disagreement today about when human life actually begins. The official and public face of the medical profession insists that life begins at implantation — yet every embryology and fetology textbook in use today states that it begins at the instant of fusion between sperm and egg. For example, Essentials of Embryology says, “The zygote, formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”1 And Langman’s Medical Embryology says, “Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the female gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote.”2
[1] Keith L. Moore. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology [Philadelphia: Saunders], 2008, page 2.
[2] T.W. Sadler. Langman’s Medical Embryology [Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins], 2006 (10th Edition), page 11.