For You From The Word
Great are the works of the Lord, studied by all who delight in them.
(Psalm 111:2, ESV)
For You To Think About
Today, fetal ultrasounds have become as inevitable in pregnancy as cravings, fatigue, and taking vitamins. It is a routine pregnancy procedure in maternity clinics and medical offices throughout the developed world.
Obstetrician Ian Donald (1910-1987) and medical physicist Thomas Graham Brown (b. 1933) developed fetal ultrasound technology in Glasgow, Scotland during the late 1950s after seeing a similar instrument used in the Glasgow shipyards to discover for flaws in a vessel’s metal work.
Although his work was devoted to ultrasounds for diagnostic purposes, Dr. Donald occasionally used the images to convince a pregnant woman not to abort the unborn child she could now see. As a devout Christian, he opposed abortion.
Ultrasounds Move from Occasional to Routine
By the 1970s, the use of diagnostic ultrasounds in pregnancy became commonplace in the United Kingdom. It took until the late 1970s for the procedure to be adopted in American hospitals and ever longer – until the end of the twentieth century – until it was commonplace in the U.S.
Today, eight in ten pregnancy resource centers report that abortion-minded women they serve decide to keep their babies after seeing ultrasound images. It is hard to determine how many lives have been saved by obstetric ultrasound technology.
What would have happened had its impact hit U.S. shores sooner, perhaps prior to the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized a woman’s right to terminate a pregnancy?
For You To Pray
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for equipping, inspiring, and enabling Drs. Donald and Brown to develop the fetal ultrasound and for using it to move an untold number of women to choose life. Open the doors to more pregnant women so to see these powerful and beautiful images of their unborn children and hear your call to carry them to term.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
More on Ultrasounds for Pregnant Women
Why Ultrasounds are a Game-Changer
Mobile Ultrasound Vehicles Go to Pregnant Women Across the U.S.