A Pregnant Woman’s Brain

In our day of surrogate mothers, in vitro fertilization, and abortion, we need to understand how a pregnant woman’s brain functions. Many husbands will describe very different thinking in the minds of their wives during pregnancy.

Dr. Liz Chrastil, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Irving, realized she could be her own study subject when she became pregnant. Chrastil exposed herself to four MRI scans before pregnancy, 15 during pregnancy, and seven scans in the two years after the baby was born.

The data on Chrastil was astounding. Pregnancy caused a 4% reduction of gray matter in 80% of Chrastil’s brain. At the same time, some of her white matter tracts that carry information around the brain grew stronger, reaching a peak in the second trimester. By the end of Chrastil’s pregnancy, the white matter returned to the pre-pregnancy level. Her gray matter changes seem to be permanent.

This research on a pregnant woman’s brain has enormous implications. As we have said before, If a woman has an abortion, the vestiges of her pregnancy continue with her for life. Pregnancy permanently alters the brain of a surrogate mother. Those who ridicule the biblical design for motherhood and families are encouraging great risk to women who choose to alter God’s plan. Humans cannot improve on God’s system for families. When they try, the result harms everyone.

— John N. Clayton © 2025
Reference: Science News for January 2025, page 12, and Nature Neuroscience.