The Allegation that Doritos “humanized a fetus” during their Super Bowl Ad & What it Means for Those of Us in the Pregnancy Loss Community
Did you see Doritos 2016 Super Bowl Ad? A couple is watching their baby kick and move on an ultrasound screen. The dad is standing by snacking on chips. Suddenly the baby reacts to the power of Doritos and hightails it out of the womb. Seemingly, to have a snack.
It was super cute & harmless.
However, NARAL Pro-Choice America was “offended” by the commercial. They went to twitter and said:
Did you just read that? NARAL accused Doritos of a pro-life agenda because the commercial HUMANIZED the baby seen on the ultrasound.
Humanizing a fetus? How dare you Doritos!
Who is NARAL you ask? Well, NARAL is, according to Fortune magazine, “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
They have major power and a big agenda. And obviously are completely unaware of what is in the womb of those of us who are pregnant.
Please meet Natalie Morgan–a Florida native with East Tennessee roots. Her sweet Eleanor was born on September 11th of 2015 at 40+ weeks gestation. The night before delivery Natalie felt the kicks of Eleanor. But when she got to the hospital she learned that Eleanor’s heart had stopped beating.
Natalie, like most of us in the pregnancy loss community (those of us pro-choice, pro-life & of all religious affiliations) are deeply offended by NARAL’s inhumane proclamation.
This issue…of saying that our babies are not humans…is too much.
Pregnancy loss is a woman’s issue that deserves respect. Telling us that the tiny hearts beating in our wombs are not “humans” is deeply disturbing.
Please read the words of Natalie. She speaks for us all in the pregnancy loss community. Her words are gritty, raw, and full of truth:
“In the past five months, I have occasionally considered the fact that there are people in the world who probably believe that because my daughter did not breathe outside my womb, she did not actually live nor was she actually a person, full-term or not. I try not to dwell on it because I’ve never actually met anyone who has admitted to believing something so extreme, so I’m sure these people are few and far between. Right?
Then there was that stupid Doritos commercial.
I was only half-watching the Superbowl anyway, so I heard the commercial start before I even saw it. It started with the sound of the heartbeat monitor, and it was like being stabbed in the gut. The very sound I was praying to hear when they were searching for Eleanor’s heartbeat five months ago, and here it was in my very own living room, only it wasn’t my daughter’s. But I suffered through the commercial because that’s all it was – a stupid commercial – and I’m not the type to expect the world to stop for me, nor am I about to petition for “trigger warnings” before every commercial with an ultrasound or newborn baby in it just because it makes me sad. The commercial ended and that was that. Life moved on, and so did I.
And then the NARAL – a massive pro-abortion organization – decided that the commercial was offensive because it “humanized the fetus.” Oh, NARAL…I say this with the deepest sincerity I can muster: Go to hell.
First of all, in the commercial, the ultrasound technician herself said, “Any day now,” implying that the mother was full-term, just as I was. That means that the baby had the ability to survive outside the womb. I disagree with abortion at any stage (though I offer grace and compassion to anyone who has had one), but my opinion aside – this isn’t some under-24-weeker that is still “legally” allowed to be terminated. This is a full-term baby due any moment. The NARAL tweeting that “humanizing” a FULL-TERM fetus is offensive just shows how extreme their position is – that baby isn’t human until it’s born.
So what was my daughter, then, NARAL? I know what you’ll probably say: “Oh, well, you WANTED her so of course she was a baby!” I’m fairly confident the parents in the commercial wanted the baby, yet you’re upset it was “humanized.”
But regardless, the mere act of wanting or not wanting something does not negate biology. An unwanted child is no different biologically or physiologically than a wanted child. Unique human DNA is present from the moment of conception. Not cat DNA, not dog DNA, not carrot DNA – human. You talk about boycotting Doritos (who I sincerely doubt was trying to take any stand in the abortion debate and was instead just trying to make a dang commercial), but your real boycott should be against science, with all its damn chromosomes and whatnot.
Or maybe you stand by the notion that it’s just a clump of cells until it’s born, which is a fairly extreme belief to hold on to for all 40 weeks of gestation. But here’s another scientific fact for you – the vagina is not some magical portal that transforms some vague collection of cells into a perfectly formed human being as it passes through the canal like it’s a baby Play Doh Fun Factory. The vagina is pretty powerful, but it’s not THAT powerful. A baby three seconds on this side of the womb is the same baby that it was when it was tucked away inside its mother just a moment earlier. The only difference is location, not genetic make-up.
And remember – my daughter died before she was born. If she wasn’t a living person, then how could she have died? Being born should have given her life, going by the logic that passing through the vaginal canal is what magically makes you a living person.Here’s the thing – I say all this as a mother of a stillborn *full-term* baby. What about the mothers who had stillborn babies who weren’t full-term? Were their children less human than mine? What about miscarried babies? Is that why so many mothers who lose children to miscarriage or even early stillbirths sometimes feel as though they shouldn’t mourn their loss as much? Is that why others don’t understand their grief and feel that they should just “move on?” Because, hey – it’s just a clump of cells, right? What’s so sad about losing that? But here’s the thing – that line drawn marking when life begins is largely arbitrary. And the burden of proof isn’t on those who believe that life begins once unique human DNA is formed at conception; it’s on those who think life starts only when they want it to start. Sure, the law dictates that the line is at 24 weeks in most cases. But the law also once dictated that certain people only counted as 3/5 of a person. So I think we can both agree that the law isn’t always based on facts or morality.
So no, NARAL, Doritos didn’t “humanize the fetus.” Human DNA did that, and you’re just hell bent on dehumanizing it.
And Eleanor, my beautiful daughter, was a person whether she breathed a single breath or none at all. She should be five months old today, and while she is not here with us, I will still stand up in her memory to remind the world that she existed, she mattered, and she lived.
Thank you, Natalie for allowing me to share your words and pictures of your sweet family. Much love to you each day & every day. Eleanor, like all babes, was wonderfully & fearfully made.
Readers…if you’d like to know more about this family please see Natalie’s story on the Today Show.
Sarah Lewis Philpott, Ph.D lives in the south east on a sprawling cattle farm where she raises her two mischievous children (with one on the way!) and is farm wife to her high school sweetheart. Sarah is represented by The Blythe Daniel Literary Agency . You can visit with Sarah at her All-American Mom blog where she writes about cultivating a life of down-home simplicity. She also helps run a faith-based pregnancy loss support group. She invites mothers of loss to join the Loved Baby Christian Pregnancy Loss Support & Encouragement .
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Hello beautiful Eleanor – so much love to your mama who had to say goodbye much sooner than she wanted to.
I missed all the Super Bowl commercials, living in France, and this is the first I’ve heard of it. The commercial is a little ridiculous, but the reaction is so extreme the mind boggles. I agree with this lucid, non-extreme, and well-written post.