- It is uncertain when human life begins; that’s a religious question that cannot be answered by science
Answer:
If there is uncertainty about when human life begins, the benefit of the doubt should go to preserving life.
Medical textbooks and scientific reference works consistently agree that human life begins at conception.
Some of the world’s most prominent scientists and physicians testified to a US Senate committee that human life begins at conception. The Official Senate report on Senate Bill 158, the “Human Life Bill” summarized the issue this way:
Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of life of a human being – a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological and scientific writings.
- The fetus is just a part of the pregnant woman’s body, like her tonsils or appendix
Answer:
A body part is defined by the common genetic code it shares with the rest of its body; the unborn’s genetic code differs from his mother’s.
The child may die and the mother live, or the mother may die and the child live, proving they are two separate individuals. The child-guest is a temporary resident of the mother-host.
The unborn child takes an active role in his own development, controlling the course of the pregnancy and the time of birth.
Being inside something is not the same as being part of something.
Human beings should not be discriminated against because of their place of residence.
- The unborn is an embryo or a fetus – just a simple blob of tissue, a product of conception – not a baby. Abortion is terminating a pregnancy, not killing a child.
Answer:
Like “toddler” and “adolescent”, the terms “embryo” and “fetus” do not refer to nonhumans, but to humans at particular stages of development.
Semantics affect perception, but they do not change realities; a baby is a baby no matter what we call her.
From the moment of conception the unborn is not simple, but very complex.
Prior to the earliest first-trimester abortions, the unborn already has every body part she will ever have.
Every abortion stops a beating heart and terminates measurable brain waves. A beating heart can be heard at 21 days and measurable brain waves at 40 days.
Even in the earliest abortions, the unborn child is clearly human in appearance.
Even before the unborn is obviously human in appearance, she is what she is – a human being.
- The fetus may be alive, but so are eggs and sperm. The fetus is a potential human being, not an actual one; it’s like a blueprint not a house, an acorn not an oak tree
Answer:
The ovum and sperm are each a product of another’s body; unlike the fertilized egg, neither is an independent entity
The physical remains after an abortion indicate the end not of a potential life but of an actual life.
Something nonhuman does not become human by getting older and bigger; whatever is human must be human from the beginning
Comparing preborns and adults to acorns and oaks is dehumanizing and misleading
Even if the analogy were valid, scientifically speaking an acorn is simply a little oak tree, just as an embryo is a little person.
- The unborn isn’t a person, with meaningful life. It’s only inches in size, and can’t even think; it’s less advanced than an animal
Answer:
Personhood is properly defined by membership in the human species, not by stage of development within that species
Personhood is not a matter of size, skill, or degree of intelligence.
The unborn’s status should be determined on an objective basis, not on subjective or self-serving definitions of personhood. The only objective questions we can ask are: (1) Is it human, that is, did it come from human beings? (2) Is it a genetically unique person? (3) Is it alive and growing? If the answer is “Yes” then it is a “he” or “she”, a living person, worthy of protection
It is a scientific fact that there are thought processes at work in unborn babies.
If the unborn’s value can be compared to that of an animal, there is no reason not to also compare the value of born people to animals.
It is dangerous when people in power are free to determine whether other, less powerful lives are meaningful. What about black or white people, women, Jews, Indians, elderly, infirmed etc
- A fetus isn’t a person until quickening or viability.
Answer:
Quickening is a gauge of personhood only if someone’s reality or value is dependent upon being noticed by another.
Viability is an arbitrary concept. Why not associate personhood with heartbeat, brain waves or something else?
The point of viability constantly changes because it depends on technology, not the unborn herself. Eventually babies may be viable from the point of conception.
In a broad sense, may born people are not viable because they are incapable of surviving without depending on others.
Someone’s helplessness or dependency should motivate us to protect her, not to destroy her.
- Obviously, life begins at birth. That’s why we celebrate birthdays, not conception days, and why we don’t have funerals following miscarriages
Answer:
Our recognition of birthdays is cultural, not scientific.
Some people do grieve and have funerals after a miscarriage.
Funerals are an expression of our own subjective attachment to those who have died, not a measurement of their true worth.
There is nothing about birth that males a baby essentially differet than he was before birth.
- No one can really know that human life begins before birth
Answer:
Children know that human life begins before birth.
Pregnant women know that human life begins before birth.
Doctors know that human life begins before birth.
Society knows that human life begins before birth.
The media know that human life begins before birth.
Pro-choice advocates know that human life begins before birth.