I was at the state capitol yesterday witnessing the historic hearing of HB896, a bill to abolish abortion in Texas. Conversations echoed throughout every corridor: talk of constitutions, equal protection, and supremacy clauses. There were attorneys and gradmothers, ranchers and doctors, educators and families of all sizes, gathered to support the bill and offer testimony to its importance and moral necessity.

My mind, however, began to wander into other areas. If the unborn is a unique person, and I believe she is, then there is an entire realm of inquiry yet unexplored, namely that of the unborn’s thoughts.

Neuroscientists tell us that around forty to forty-three days, the first brain activity begins to occur in the unborn human brain. An article in the New York Times from 2006 says, “This activity, however, is not coherent activity of the kind that underlies human consciousness, or even the coherent activity seen in a shrimp’s nervous system. Just as neural activity is present in clinically brain-dead patients, early neural activity consists of unorganized neuron firing of a primitive kind.”

Are neuroscientists certain that the early brain activity of an unborn baby is not coherent? I’ve been looking for answers to that question. Earlier this year, a Nebraska man was declared “brain dead” and reported having coherent and detailed thoughts during that time.

I created this piece assuming not only that the unborn have coherent thoughts from the earliest stages of brain developmet, but that it is possible that they have thoughts about us. The question that prompted this creation was: “Do unborn babies dream of their mothers?”

One thing we can be certain of: We dream about them.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed week! ~Scarlett