Respect for life that is beginning

In an interview given to GOOD WILL magazine, published in Issue No. 234, the doctor in molecular biology from the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) Lilian Piñero Eça, President of the Instituto de Pesquisa de Células-Tronco (IPCTRON) [Stem Cell Research Institute], explains aspects related to the start of life in human reproduction and the serious consequences of abortion on the physical and mental health of women.

Dr. Eça, who is also the scientific director of the Centro de Atualização em Saúde (CAS) [Health Updating Center] in São Paulo, warns of the danger of making the project for decriminalizing abortion in Brazil a law. She bases her arguments on her long experience shared with other professionals, in particular on the efforts of the interdisciplinary team of the CAS, in the treatment of those who interrupt their pregnancy.

The specialist defends citizenship rights as from the time of fertilization, the moment when the life of the individual begins. Instead of thinking about promoting death, the researcher recommends that first of all it is necessary to take care of the quality of health of Brazilians.

The opinion of the biomedical doctor adds to the broad discussion that places care for life in focus — for the Legion of Good Will this is a question that involves material, moral, and spiritual dimensions, since Life precedes conception. As the President of the LBV, José de Paiva Netto, says: “We are now body, but we are originally Spirit.”

GOOD WILL — Thank you for your willingness to meet with the LBV to talk about the consequences of abortion on the health of women.

Dr. Lilian Eça — It’s a pleasure to be with the Legion of Good Will once again. I’m always moved when I receive this invitation. I’m a supporter of all this marvelous energy of the LBV. I just hope I can clarify, with simplicity, the doubts of women and men as well, because no one gets pregnant alone! We can try not to get pregnant during our menstrual cycles, but after the pregnancy has taken hold we must maintain it for the health of the woman.

GW — During pregnancy, the woman’s body is transformed…

Dr. Lilian Eça — The start of human life is when the sperm and the ovum meet. That’s when the embryonic stem cells are formed, which will give rise to a human being. There we have all the proteins and the signaling for the future brain, the little legs, the little arms. (...) I study the cell signs of embryos in the uterus. We women have two hormones that are talked about a lot by gynecologists: estrogen and progesterone. The first is found in the organism most of the time. The protein molecules of estrogen signalize our whole body; that’s why women have no body hair; are more affectionate; and have a maternity nest. As soon as I’ve been fertilized and get pregnant, progesterone begins being secreted and substitutes the estrogen. Within 48 hours of becoming pregnant, all the trillions of cells that make up the woman have been transformed, and one of them is affection; you also start getting sleepy... Why do we get sleepy? So you stop wasting so much energy. It’s time to save energy for the baby. So the woman is completely signaled for the child. But then she takes a decision, either alone or with her partner, about not wanting this pregnancy, despite being completely signaled by progesterone in her trillions of cells, in her synapses... She has all the signals needed to form that unreproducible human being.

GW — Can abortion cause an imbalance in the organism?

Dr. Lilian Eça — By deciding to remove the child, you cause a blackout.... like pulling the plug on a computer, you know? When you try and start this computer again the chips don’t work.  You cause a blackout in trillions of cells. It was all affectionate, transformed for the nest, the cells were secreting a load of neurotransmitters and endorphins... When you pull the plug, by sucking out the fetus, the neurotransmitters are interrupted, because the progesterone that commands their secretion reduces. As a result, you can get depression for the rest of your life. If the woman has a greater tendency to depression, the lack of the neurotransmitter is a tragedy and no medication can recover her.

GW — Does a violent reaction occur in the body itself, with a high degree of aggression?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Total aggression! This is not being emancipated... is emancipation sucking out your fetus? No. Scientifically speaking this is regression. If you like your body, yourself, your neurotransmitter, your neurons, your brain, I would advise you to think trillions of times. Furthermore, you will run the risk of infection, the risk of sucking out more than you need to, because when you want to be a mother, you may no longer have the endometrial layer. If you remove the endometrial layer, the fetus loses mobility; or you end up having a greater tendency of having a fetus in the fallopian tubes; [in this case] not only the fetus has to be removed, but the tube as well. If I started talking about what abortion does to your physical and mental health, and there are women who have several, you wouldn’t agree to do it. 

GW — Is lack of information still a problem?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Unfortunately, Brazilians in general lack information and because of that they don’t fight for their rights. (...) So, having an abortion is not protecting life. The doctor swears an oath in favor of life from its beginning to its end, and then goes and takes away life? That’s a contradiction. We shall have to create a new university if this law is passed in Brazil. We’re not even prepared to carry out an ultrasound in pregnant women, so imagine doing this examination to remove children. Without a structure for the babies to be born, because there are a lot, can you imagine, therefore, what a waiting list for abortions there would be? I’m totally against it. What we have to do is build more hospitals, with more care, and better salaries for professionals; we have to have a health law.

GW — Do countries that allow abortion feel the effects of this?

Dr. Lilian Eça — Developed nations, like Denmark, where the law allows abortion, have a high number of female suicides. That is precisely because of the lack of neurotransmitters. A person only takes their own life when they are very depressed. (...) In addition to my research into cell signals, for many years I’ve been monitoring the behavior of women who have abortions through the Health Updating Center.  We have an interdisciplinary team — psychiatrists, nurses, biomedical doctors, dentists... I’m not alone in reaching these conclusions. They’re also the result of the monitoring done by other professionals.

GW — And what is your opinion on the interruption of the pregnancy of an anencephalic*1 baby?

Dr. Lilian Eça — You may be shocked, but it’s what I think... We always want our children to be completely healthy, logically, but if I carry out an ultrasound and I discover I have a baby with anencephaly I think it’s a lot healthier to give a chance to going through mourning than to rid oneself of it by having an abortion. In this case we know that their life is going to be shorter. (...) It’s the same thing, for example, in the case of having a healthy child and tomorrow they have an accident and stop being healthy. The mother will stay by its side, will live with this child, who will need her every day. There are contradictions. If I have my child inside me and it is sick, am I going to remove it? No way, we love them even more! (...) From the moment you become pregnant you have the responsibility for that being inside you.

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*1 Anencephaly — A type of rare malformation of the neural tube, characterized by the partial absence of the encephalon and the cranial vault of the fetus.

Version: Rob Dinham
Revision: Rosana Bertolin