When does life begin? Heather Bellamy comments.

When do you think life begins; from the moment of conception, after 24 weeks of pregnancy, or after birth? Did you know that at just 4 weeks, a baby's organs will start developing! My husband made an awesome comment yesterday that to God, as we are being knit together in the womb, right from the outset He knows exactly who we are, to Him we're not only a ball of cells...'your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.' Psalm 139:16 You existed before the knitting process even began!

In a nation that places little value on the voice of the unborn, over the last few weeks, it seems to me that circumstances were conspiring to bring the unseen to the forefront of our consciousness and it began with a Daily Mail article.

On 6th March a story ran about Nadine Dorries, Conservative MP for Mid Bedfordshire who is campaigning for the lowering of the legal limit for abortions from 24 weeks to 20 weeks. What was harrowing about this story was the experience she shared of her nursing days when she helped in carrying out abortions. In heartrending words she shared "The baby breathed. It was lying in a bedpan - it was a little boy and I saw him breathe. I said to the doctor: 'I am going to get the crash team (emergency resuscitation medics).' And he got hold of my wrist, pulled me into a cubicle and said: 'We are not on the labour ward. What are you doing?' He said that the only way I would be able to prove that the baby was alive was to drop him into a bucket of water and see if he floated! I ran out in tears."

A couple of weeks later our local paper (The Sentinel) ran an equally distressing story on its front page with the headline - 'Parents Baby Death Trauma'. They re-told the horrific circumstances of a Mother being presented with her dead baby when she gave birth to twins. This wasn't a normal stillbirth though, her baby had died at 20 weeks and she'd been told 'that the foetus' tissue would disintegrate'. What was given to her though was 'one fit and healthy baby and the body of her dead baby on the hospital ward' - not just tissue and not disintegrated! In another illustration of the value of life we place as a nation, when the couple tried to register the death they were told 'it could not be registered because the foetus had died at less than 24 weeks.'

If that wasn't enough, just a couple of weeks after that another front page story ran in our local paper, this time the headline was 'Hospital Sorry Over Foetuses Blunder' - 'seven bodies of miscarried and aborted babies were discovered at Staffordshire's biggest hospital...up to two years after they should have been buried or cremated'.

The strength of a nation and its communities is built on how its people are treated including the weakest and most marginalized members. I don't know what the above stories do for you, but if nothing else they show that something is deeply wrong in a society that has seen over 6.7 million abortions since 1967 - virtually the same number as that of Jews who were killed in the Holocaust.

'Lord Steel, architect of the 1967 Abortion Act, says today that abortion is being used as a form of contraception in Britain and admits he never anticipated "anything like" the current number of terminations when leading the campaign for reform.' The Guardian October 2007.

This voice from the unborn wasn't only restricted to traumatic cries though, it also came through, as if with a smile of hope, saying "let me live" firstly in the form of baby Brandon.

Baby Brandon was never supposed to live; he was diagnosed with an extremely rare condition (only 14 ever recorded since 1914 and his was the first in the UK) called rhomboencephalosynapsis, RS for short. Something was first thought to be wrong at the 20 week scan and over the months Brandon's parents were encouraged to have an abortion no less than 6 times - even up to 2 weeks before the birth. They were told their baby would only live a couple of hours and would be blind and deaf. In interview with Cross Rhythms, Brandon's Dad Chris said 'They said they were going to give him an injection inside the stomach and put him to sleep and then she'd have to give birth to him, obviously deceased.' Brandon's parents decided not to abort and instead turned to God in prayer for their child, for a miracle to take place and for 'everything to be put to normal in his brain'. Their prayers were answered and he was born completely healed!

Finally, a book was released this month called 'Aborted and Lived to Tell About It'. 'Gianna wasn't supposed to be here. Her frightened, 17-year-old mother went to an abortion clinic to end her baby's life. But, miraculously, the procedure failed and sent Gianna's mother into labour; a few minutes later, a fragile baby girl made her way into the world. The remarkable story of Gianna's survival is both inspirational and unforgettable.'

We may not hear the unborn with our ears, we may not yet see all the potential in them, we may not know the destiny God has planned for them; but one thing is certain, they are human beings, Gods creation, made in His image, just as we are. We need to value them as we want to be valued and as we value those we see around us.