Just A Foetus?

Abortion is often justified (and can only be justified) on the basis of human life not starting at conception. Some have argued that science cannot answer this question, and it is therefore a matter of religion.

If there is uncertainty about when human life begins, the benefit of the doubt should go to preserving life.

Suppose there is uncertainty about when human life begins. If a hunter is uncertain whether a movement in the bush is caused by a person, does his uncertainty lead him to fire or not to fire? If you are driving at night and you think the dark figure ahead on the road may be a child, but it may just be the shadow of a tree, do you drive into it or do you put on the brakes? If we find someone who may be dead or alive, but we are not sure, what is the best policy? To assume he is alive and try to save him, or to assume he is dead and walk away?

Shouldn't we give the benefit of the doubt to life? Otherwise we are saying, "This may or may not be a child, therefore it's all right to destroy it."

What does the science say?

Many people have been told that there is no medical or scientific consensus as to when human life begins. This is simply untrue. Among those scientists who have no vested interests in the abortion issue, there is an overwhelming consensus that human life begins at conception. (Conception is the moment when the egg is fertilized by the sperm, bringing into existence the zygote, which is a genetically distinct individual.)

Dr. Bradley M. Patten's textbook, Human Embryology, states, "It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and the resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual.

Dr. Keith L. Moore's text on embryology, referring to the single-cell zygote, says, "The cell resulta from fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm and is the beginning of a human being." He also states, "Each of us started life as a cell called a zygote"

Doctors J. P. Greenhill and E. A. Friedman, in their work on biology and obstetrics, state, "The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life"

Dr. Louis Fridhandler, in the medical textbook Biology of Gestation, refers to fertilization as "that wondrous moment that marks the beginning of life for a new unique individual."

Doctors E. L. Potter and J. M. Craig write in Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, "Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."

Popular scientific reference works reflect this same understanding of when human life begins. Time and Rand McNally's Atlas of the Body states, "In fusing together, the male and female gametes produce a fertilized single cell, the zygote, which is the start of a new individual" In an article on pregnancy, the Encyclopedia Britannica says, "A new individual is created when the elements of a potent sperm merge with those of a fertile ovum, or egg."

These sources confidently affirm, with no hint of uncertainty, that life begins at conception. They state not a theory or hypothesis and certainly not a religious belief - every one is a secular source. Their conclusion is squarely based on the scientific and medical facts.

(taken from Prolife Answers to ProChoice Arguments, Randy Alcorn)

So what is the conclusion?

If it is concluded that a fetus is a baby from the first moment, or at the least that it can't be guaranteed that a fetus isn't a baby then abortion is wrong. Any other argument for abortion is superfluous. There is no science that backs up the claim that an unborn baby is not human. And this fact is regularly ignored by those who promote abortion. A baby is a human being from the moment of conception, and it should be afforded the same rights as every other human on the planet.