"How do you know life begins at conception?"
On Abortion
The moment a preborn child comes into existence, so too does a mother and father come into existence. But when does such a child come into existence?
Surveying thousands of Americans, Steve Jacobs found that the question of "when life begins" is an important aspect of the abortion debate (82%) and most Americans believe that a human’s life is worthy of legal protection once it begins (93%). The respondents were given several options for who they considered to be most qualified to answer the question, "When does human life begin?" These were biologists, philosophers, religious leaders, Supreme Court Justices, and voters. 80% of respondents selected biologists.
Jacobs then surveyed professors in the biology departments of over 1000 institutions around the world. 96% of the surveyed biologists affirmed that human life begins at fertilisation. Interestingly, the biologists were open about this until they were informed that the study was being done to inform the debate over abortion, at which time, Jacobs started receiving hostile responses. Jacobs theorised that this reaction was due either to the respondent's cognitive dissonance between their political and scientific beliefs, fear that support for abortion restrictions may increase, or fear that they may lose the support of pro-choice liberals.
For the abortion-supporter, it is often the case that their beliefs about when life begins synchronises with their beliefs about when abortion should be banned. But by arguing, for example, that life begins at six months, the supporter implicitly concedes that something significant happened "six months" earlier that causes us to count the passage of time (i.e., fertilisation) – so, one must ask, why draw the line at six months at all? Why not point back to time zero? But suppose a supporter does not know when abortion should be banned, should they not then err on the side of caution? Surely you would not proceed with a building demolition without being sure that the building had been properly evacuated. Anything else is a blatant disregard for life.
But the pro-abortion side might respond, why stop at fertilisation? “Sperm and egg cells are alive too!” This is true. Both sperm and egg cells are also alive, according to the seven common scientific standards for life. However, at conception, we see a switch from parts of two people into the whole of a new person.
Dr Maureen L Condic expertly makes a case for new life beginning at the beginning of fertilisation (fertilisation being a process). She explains: Scientific distinctions are made between various cell types, based on two relatively simple criteria: cells are known to be different from each other because they have different composition … and because they exhibit distinct types of cell behavior. (When Does Human Life Begin?, 2008). That is, what is it made up of and what does it do.
A sperm has the genetic material of the father, while an egg has the genetic material of the mother – via their composition, we can tell that these are two different cells. A sperm swims to find and fertilise an egg, while an egg lays around and awaits fertilisation – via their behaviour, we can tell that these are two different cells. Now apply this to the fertilised egg. Even before the chromosomes have combined within the cell, the zygote has the genetic material of both mother and father – a unique composition distinct from that of sperm or egg. And, upon the entry of the sperm, the zygote is quick to prevent the entry of any further sperm – again, this is behaviour distinct from that of sperm or egg. The zygote, quite unlike the sperm and egg, will then proceed along the stages outlined in the Fetal Development post.
By these distinctions, we can conclude that, upon fertilisation, there is something new that we didn’t have before. This new thing, it can then be argued, is the offspring of the parents. And if parents are morally responsible for their offspring, parenthood begins here, and they ought to protect that child from that point forward. When human life begins is really not controversial among biologists at all. What’s controversial is the question of whether or not every human being is valuable and has a right to life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQKZsfy_YdM&ab_channel=PintsWithAquinas Special thanks to this source featuring Stephanie Gray: Highly recommend!
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