Unique Dolls Show Humanity of Unborn Babies.(Brief Article)

Pro-lifers have long known that hearts and minds can be changed when people hold models of unborn babies and touch the tiny fingers and toes. A New York artist has now taken that concept a step further--creating poseable, lifelike dolls of preborn children based on photos and measurements of actual premature babies.

Catherine Jacobs of Elmira, New York, is an elementary school art teacher. She told NRL News that the idea for the dolls came when she was researching fetal development during a difficult pregnancy seven years ago. Her unborn twins survived two threats to their lives in what Jacobs calls "miracles."

During the third month of pregnancy, she began hemorrhaging and doctors believed the babies had died. Just before they performed a D&C, a last-minute ultrasound found that "the babies were still there and doing OK," according to Jacobs. "God spared their lives that day."

Two months later, Jacobs developed life-threatening pneumonia and had to take strong medicine to save her life. "We didn't know what would happen to the babies," she said. "But it was the second miracle. They were all right."

During this time, Jacobs looked in many books to educate herself about her babies. "I didn't find a lot of pictures," she said. "And the fetal models I saw just didn't do the babies justice -- they didn't look like they were alive."

After her boys, John and Calvin, were born at 32 weeks' gestation in an emergency Caesarean section, Jacobs felt she needed to do something to show people how precious and unique unborn babies are. "So many of us with premature babies know how beautiful these tiny humans are," she said. "It is such a waste, so cruel, when people abort their babies."

She began to experiment with molds and materials to make both fetal development models and poseable dolls, which she calls "God's Little Ones." She created a set of models depicting babies from 3 to 15 weeks' gestation. These models have flat backs and are displayed with text describing the milestones of growth at each stage.