The Lejeune Testimony, Part 2: Virginia’s Constitution, and His
On November 3, Virginians will vote on whether to change the Virginia Constitution. Question 1 would add a new right to its Bill of Rights, and that right names only one person the Commonwealth may protect.
In Part 1, we met the witness: Dr. Jérôme Lejeune, the geneticist credited with discovering the cause of Down syndrome, testifying under oath in 1991. Now, his evidence. It begins with a surprising word. Every human being, he told the court, receives a constitution of his own.
A New Constitution
Asked to describe how a human life begins, Dr. Lejeune pointed to one moment: when the father’s genetic information meets the mother’s inside a single cell. Each of us, he said, has “a very unique beginning,” when all the information needed “to be that particular human being” comes together (p. 42). At that moment, “suddenly a new constitution is spelled out” (p. 42).
He chose the word on purpose. “It is very curious,” he said, “that biology and the science of the law are speaking the same language” (pp. 42–43). Then he drew the line straight to the law:
Sworn Testimony · Transcript p. 43
“And from a state in which every person is protected by the law we say it has an equitable constitution.” (p. 43)
A just constitution protects every person. And the moment a child’s own constitution is spelled out, he testified, “a new human being begins its career” (p. 43).
The Tape and the Symphony
To make it plain, Dr. Lejeune reached for music. Buy a cassette of Mozart, he said, and play it:
Sworn Testimony · Transcript p. 45
“But curiously on the tape there are no notes of music, and inside your tape recorder there are no musicians.” (p. 45)
The tape holds only information. Yet what comes out of the speaker is “not the orchestra, not the musicians,” but “the genius of Mozart.” Then he said, “That’s the way life, the symphony of life, is played” (p. 45).
The tape is the child’s DNA, half from his father and half from his mother. The cell that reads it is the player. And the music is a human life, playing from the first moment. The genius behind that music is not Mozart’s. It is the Creator’s.
Privacy, Written in Biology
Roe v. Wade recognized a constitutional right of privacy protecting a woman’s decision whether to end a pregnancy. Dr. Lejeune testified that nature had already given privacy to someone else:
Sworn Testimony · Transcript p. 49
“Now nature has invented an extraordinary device to tell us that nature do protect the privacy of the very first stage of the human being. The right of privacy is written in that way in biology.” (p. 49)
He described the thin, clear shell around the mother’s egg. The instant one sperm enters, that shell changes and seals itself against every other (pp. 49–50). From the first moment, nature stands guard over the new human being. Biology protects his privacy. Question 1 does not.
What the Lejeune Testimony Means for the Virginia Constitution
Question 1 would write into the Virginia Constitution the only interest strong enough to limit its new right. That interest must serve “the health of an individual seeking care,” and it may not infringe on “that individual’s autonomous decision making.” One individual. Her privacy, her autonomy, her health.
The child has a constitution too, spelled out at conception, and the amendment never mentions it. By Dr. Lejeune’s own measure, a state that protects every person has an equitable constitution.
Question 1 counts only one.
Known Before He Was Formed
Scripture
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” (Jeremiah 1:5)
God spoke those words to a young man who doubted he had anything to say. The Lord answered that He had known Jeremiah before his body was formed and had set him apart before his birth. The child’s constitution was not an accident of chemistry. It is the work of the One who knew him first.
The Lejeune testimony describes what the Creator wrote. The Virginia Constitution can be amended by a vote of the people. The constitution God writes in every child cannot.
Still to Come
Is that single cell truly human, and truly one of a kind? In Part 3, Dr. Lejeune explains how he could tell a human chromosome from a chimpanzee’s at a glance, and why no two human beings are ever the same.
Read pages 42 through 50 of the original transcript for yourself. Share this with your pastor and your family. Early voting runs through October 31.
Then vote No on Question 1, and leave the Virginia Constitution as it is.
No vote can rewrite what God has written. But the God who knew this child before he was formed still hears the prayers of a people who will turn and speak for him.
Previous: Part 1, The Child Who Cannot Vote
Next: Part 3, coming soon
Transcript: Read the original (PDF)
Sources
- Transcript, State of New Jersey v. Alexander Loce, et al., Morristown Municipal Court, April 13, 1991. Complete transcript (PDF); testimony of Dr. Jérôme Lejeune, pp. 36–83.
- Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), full opinion.
- Virginia Department of Elections, Proposed Constitutional Amendment, Question 1, full text.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
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