Losing a child through a miscarriage has to be one of the most painful experiences a person could possibly have to endure. I cannot imagine the grief either an expectant mother or father would feel after losing a child who he or she never even got to meet face to face. Ed Sheeran’s popular song “Small Bump” authentically captures the grief that a first time dad feels as he finds out that his wife has suffered a miscarriage and shows the precious humanity of the unborn.

According to an interview with Ed Sheeran, he wrote the song from the perspective of friends who had recently lost their four month old baby. He writes, “Yeah… it was quite a difficult subject to tackle. I wrote it from their perspective. It was my perspective looking on them to begin with. It’s quite a touchy subject, so I wrote it from the perspective of actually being the parent.” The song’s lyrics beautifully capture both the excitement and joy of a first time dad as well as the devastation of finding out that his child has died.

The lyrics, “Finger nails the size of a half grain of rice. And eyelids closed to be soon opened wide, a small bump, In four months you’ll open your eyes” show the joyful anticipation that a father experiences, followed by the abrupt and inexplicable sadness experienced after a miscarriage. The importance of this song should not be underestimated. It shows in mainstream pop culture the beauty and joy of waiting for a baby, therefore “humanizing” the unborn, something abortion advocates avoid at all costs. The baby in this song was just four months old when she died in the miscarriage, at which point abortion is still common and legal in many cases, depending on the state.