It’s an old but true adage: a picture is worth a thousand words.

Sunday’s New York Times featured a full-page advertisement of a pregnant woman’s belly with the words “Growth Curve” in all caps.

It was part of a campaign by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, an organization “created by farmers to build trust and sales of dairy, funded by the nation’s nearly 28,000 farm families and those that import dairy into the U.S.”

Here’s where the ad copy gets especially interesting – and revealing.

It reads:

From before birth through age two, or what pediatricians call “The First 1,000 Days,” a child’s brain, body and immune system undergo a period of rapid development.

Did you pick up on that?

U.S. Dairy interests are acknowledging what most everybody else knows – but what some special interests won’t admit.

According to America’s farmers, it’s a child in the womb – a baby that requires the vital nutrition that dairy can provide. Blobs of tissue don’t need nutrition.

Is this ad part of a larger pro-life push spearheaded by dairy farmers? It’s unlikely. There’s no evidence to suggest the group is looking to wade into the 50 plus year battle concerning the sanctity of life.

But perhaps it should.

Dairy consumption has been declining during that same period of time. In fact, per capita milk consumption has decreased by 47% since 1975.

Many will suggest dairy’s decline is due to the rise in popularity of plant-based alternative “milks” like soy or almond – or people preferring drinks other than milk altogether.

This would explain some of the drop, but not all of it.

It’s common economic sense that when you have fewer potential customers available to consume your product, you either must sell more to the same crowd – or somehow expand the base.

The killing of more than 60 million babies here in the United States since 1973 has deprived the world of unfathomable beauty, creativity, insight, inventions, medical breakthroughs, literary masterpieces, athletic achievements – and dairy consumers.

Children historically drink milk, and lots of it. In the same ad in Sunday’s Times, U.S. Dairy notes:

Dairy foods help support that remarkable growth by providing essential nutrients like protein, calcium, potassium and iodine.

Preborn babies also grow up to eat lots of other dairy products – like ice cream, yogurt and cheese, to name just a few. Imagine how much greater sales of all those various items could be with 60 million more customers.

It remains one of the most inexplicable and foolish trends that corporate America, which relies on consumers to buy the products they sell, continues to largely support groups like Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry.

Why would you financially support groups that aim to kill your potential customers? It’s diabolical.

Whether deliberately or not, it’s refreshing and encouraging to see America’s dairy farmers bucking the trend and recognizing that babies in the womb are children in need of care and nutrition.

That’s something all pro-lifers can drink (milk) to.

Image credit U.S. Dairy