My friend just found out that she is pregnant for the first time and she and her husband are ecstatic.

The new mom had an ultrasound a few days ago, and the doctor determined that the raspberry-sized baby is eight weeks old. My friend got to listen to her baby’s heart beating strong and fast — thump-a-thump-a-thump — 164 beats per minute.

This little human already has everything it physically needs in one form or another. It is a complete, itsy-bitsy person who just needs time to further develop and grow. The baby is so very much alive and growing so quickly that it will double in size in the next week.

It was quite obvious from the ultrasound, and the species of the mother, that the preborn baby isn’t a cat or a dog, or even a rhinoceros. Human beings produce, well, only human beings.

Of course, the doctor couldn’t tell yet by the ultrasound if the baby is a boy or girl, but she knows for sure that the child is already one or the other. Every cell of its little body is marked by either XX chromosomes, meaning, “It’s a girl!” or XY chromosomes, meaning, “It’s a boy!” In fact, those are the only two declarations of sex that doctors have made at birth throughout all of human history. (Except for, of course, the very rare medical abnormality.)

Later in the pregnancy, when another ultrasound is performed, the medical professionals might or might not be able to see the sex clearly. But a simple blood test will reveal with absolute certainty whether my friend will have a son or a daughter, because every drop of blood carries the code of maleness or femaleness.

This is all pretty basic stuff that most of us learned way back in junior high or high school biology class.

Humans beget humans.

XX is girl. XY is a boy.

The humanity and genetic code of maleness or femaleness is in every single drop of blood. Every. Single. Drop. Of. Blood.

XX causes certain things to happen to the outside of the body, as well as the inside. The same goes for XY. So, although we don’t walk around seeing the actual genetic code, we see the more obvious signs of femaleness and maleness. You know what I’m talking about.

Even if you chop off that outer “stuff” or surgically fashion it into something else, a healthy person is still who and what they were before. Because it isn’t just about what’s going on below the waist. The gender is in every single cell. Every. Single. Cell.

This is basic science. It’s so basic, in fact, that you are probably wondering right now if this column was written for grade school children. You’re laughing (or annoyed) at how you’re reading things you’ve known for practically all your life, right?

I mean, we all know that when the baby is born, the obstetrician won’t be relieved that the newborn is an actual human. And the doctor won’t exclaim, “It’s an IT! Now let’s not jump to conclusions based on what we see. We’ve got to wait until IT is at least five years old before we can find out what gender IT wants to be.”

Tragically, in an age where some people have foolishly “decided” that preborn babies aren’t really alive and/or aren’t really human, and therefore can be aborted, there are also some people who have foolishly “decided” that boys aren’t really boys, and girls aren’t really girls.

These are the science deniers.

And every time one of us falls for their foolishness, or politely agrees to “go along to get along,” we, too, become science deniers.

Like I said, it’s pretty basic stuff.

Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at [email protected].