Pro-life org releases updated pregnancy resource confirming life begins at conception

By Tate Rosentreter
The Center Square

In time for Mother’s Day, the Charlotte Lozier Institute on Thursday released an updated version of its Voyage of Life pregnancy resource that is packed with scientific facts about babies from fertilization to birth, stating that life begins at conception.

Executive director of the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) Karen Czarnecki told The Center Square that “Voyage of Life stands apart by offering scientifically rigorous, medically grounded information on fetal development that is presented in an accessible way for a wide audience, from pregnant mothers and students to researchers and policymakers.”

“Voyage of Life does this while reflecting the undeniable truth that a distinct human life begins at conception and is worthy of protection,” Czarnecki said.

Czarnecki added that “when the public sees clear, accurate information about the development of unborn babies, it becomes harder to ignore their humanity.”

The updated Voyage of Life includes “the latest prenatal research, now expanded with 700+ new citations from CLI and peer‑reviewed medical and scientific studies,” a CLI press release said.

According to the release, Voyage of Life uses “up-to-date, peer-reviewed research and medically grounded visuals to illustrate human development from fertilization through birth.”

Mothers and families can “visualize [their] baby’s development like never before with almost 50 groundbreaking, high-definition images.”

Additionally, the Voyage of Life includes a pregnancy calculator that “estimates how far along you are in your pregnancy journey,” according to the press release.

Karen Czarnecki told The Center Square that these newly released resources from CLI “help ground the conversation in biological reality rather than ideology.”

“However, that doesn’t stop many pro-abortion activists from dehumanizing unborn babies to push their agenda of unlimited, all-trimester abortion,” Czarnecki said.

Voyage of Life was launched in 2021 as a response to abortion giant Planned Parenthood’s Pregnancy: Month by Month page that doesn’t include many scientific realities and places a lot of focus on the negative symptoms of pregnancy, according to CLI media relations.

Czarnecki said in CLI’s news release that the fact science continually confirms that human life is present from “the earliest weeks of development” is “ignored by groups like Planned Parenthood because honest science threatens their business model built on denying the humanity of the unborn.”

“Voyage of Life exists to confront this blatant denial with clear, evidence-based science,” Czarnecki said.

CLI associate scholar and lead researcher and writer for Voyage of Life Dr. Katrina Furth said in the press release: “The updates to the Voyage of Life website add hundreds of new details about the breathtaking complexity of a single cell transforming into a complex, living human body.”

“As people come to understand how early the unborn baby is drawn to faces, capable of feeling, and moving in response to touch, they will see the humanity of the unborn and start giving the youngest among us the protection that they deserve,” Furth said.

CLI is the education and research branch of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.