When President Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, he faced intense pressure from the American people to do something about the country’s disastrous economic state. In response, the new President initiated a large number of new government programs within the first one hundred days of his first term. Since that time period, observers have paid particular attention to the actions of every new American President during their first one hundred days in office.

So far during the young tenure of President Obama, he has enacted a number of policies that relate to the issue of abortion. On his fourth day in office, the President lifted restrictions on United States Government funding for groups that provide abortions overseas. And on his thirty ninth day in office, the White House announced that it planned to reverse the conscience clause, a rule that, among other things, protected health care workers who refused to perform abortions because of moral objections to it.

Since President Obama is still in the earliest stages of his own Presidency and as I am praying for him to do the things that will be in the best interests of all Americans at every stage of life, I’d like to help him understand the impact of his decisions so that he can make better decisions. To do this, I want to talk a bit more about another First Hundred Days. The First Hundred Days of the life of an unborn baby.

Let’s imagine that a baby was conceived on January 20th. As of the date of this writing (March 3rd), that living being would not even technically be considered a fetus yet – that person is still called an embryo. Many people, including the President and many of his supporters, think that this life does not yet have recognizable rights as a human being. But as we will see, that life has already amassed an impressive set of accomplishments. And by the first hundred days after conception, the baby will have successfully completed an aggressive and diverse agenda worthy of respect.

Let’s look at some of the things that happen during the First One Hundred Days after conception.

Day One (January 20th). Conception. Think of this as a biological equivalent of Inauguration Day. Like its political equivalent, this day is the beginning of a term.

Regardless of your gender, your race, nationality, political affiliation or age, every event in your life can be expressed as a time offset from your own personal “Day One” – the day you were conceived. If this day hadn’t happened, none of the days that you’ve lived since then would have happened either. Your biological life can’t be traced back to any other single event other than this one. On this date, the human reproductive cells that come together at conception in effect take an oath to begin doing all the massive infrastructure work that is needed in order to allow a new human being to take his or her first breath about 280 days later. And if this living being is not killed, either through miscarriage, abortion or stillbirth, it will indeed accomplish every aspect of the bold agenda that it embarks upon on Conception Day.

Day Twenty One (February 9th). Another infrastructure project is well underway as the foundations of what will eventually become the baby’s spine start to develop. And on the health care front, the baby’s little heart begins to beat – a heartbeat that will continue for the rest of his or her life. No matter how old you are, the heart that beats inside of you today began beating when this top priority was enacted just three weeks after Conception Day. Pretty impressive.

It’s also worth noting that by the time most women realize that they’re pregnant – at about Day 14 – these key milestones will be accomplished only about one week later. Which shows that even during a period of slow news, the unborn baby is quietly and efficiently working behind the scenes to build a better future.

Day Thirty Six (February 24th). A key priority for environmental air quality is initiated on this day as the unborn baby’s lungs begin to form. And in an expansion of the infrastructure projects already underway, the baby’s hands and feet now have some level of discernable fingers and toes. The lymphatic system begins to form and within a week, brain activity will be measurable on EEG devices.

Day Forty Nine (March 8th). This date is a day of tremendous accomplishment given the unborn baby’s short time in the womb. Although still in what’s called the first trimester (the biological equivalent of the honeymoon period), the baby now has at least started forming all essential organs – all positioned in their proper place in his or her little body. Whoever you are, every one of your vital organs had started developing not just within the first One Hundred Days after your conception but, in general, during the First Fifty Days. Quite impressive! The unborn baby may have critics who aren’t happy with the fact that he or she is in place. But they certainly can’t criticize the fact that the baby has already tackled an incredible number of issues in a remarkably short time period.

Day Fifth Six (March 15th). As much as the baby has accomplished in terms of infrastructure, there is also a focus on both communication infrastructure and entertainment. By this time period, the baby’s ear begins to look very similar to the way that it will look when the baby is born. In addition, the eyelids become more advanced in their development.

Day Eighty Four (April 12th). Another major milestone, involving the handling of food, is underway as the baby develops tooth buds, which will eventually become the baby teeth. Freedom of creative expression is also touched on as the baby can now make a fist with his or her fingers and has a well-formed face. And yet more attention is paid to regulation of the environment as the baby’s liver now produces red blood cells.

Day One Hundred (April 28th). By this time period, being much more comfortable in its role, the baby either can make active motions and sucking movements. The baby has started to develop a fine layer of hair on his or her head. The bones become harder and more muscle tissue begins to develop. The liver and pancreas produce fluid secretions. While it may not be known what the ultimate legacy of this baby’s life will be, it can certainly be said that the baby is off to a very impressive start.

Within the First One Hundred Days after conception, the unborn baby has accomplished essentially everything that makes a human being a human being. There are some who see no problem with interfering with the unborn baby’s pursuit of its noble agenda -  which is to be born - the culmination of the tasks it began tackling on Conception Day. They do not understand all the things that the baby has already accomplished or realize that since Day One, the baby has been on a mission to be born, which is a mission that definitely will be fulfilled unless the baby is aborted, stillborn or miscarried.  These people need to become more aware of the things that the baby is doing behind the scenes.

And I write this because, in spite of all the things that an unborn baby accomplishes in the First One Hundred Days, supporters of legalized abortion support a process that may kill this already accomplished baby anytime up through Day 168 – or even beyond in some cases. They need to realize that although talented politicians can address a large number of their agenda items in a short period of time, these accomplishments pale to the accomplishments every one of us made during our own early days. Prayerfully, they will consider these things and keep them in mind as they craft policies that will affect those very ambitious unborn.