A few months ago, I saw a post on Facebook by someone in support of abortion and a women's right to choose to have an abortion. I read through some of her comments and was shocked when she said that a fetus wasn't human life, it was only the "potential" for human life. I wasn't really sure what to say at that point in time, or how to rationally get my point across so I knew it would be a good topic for a blog post.
As someone who us ultimately pro-life because of my Catholic faith and beliefs, I am also a scientist. I'm inquisitive by nature, I want to know the how and why of things and how to explain them using logic, even secular logic. While it is passion behind personal beliefs that is usually an impetus to speak-out on things, I fear it sometimes gets me in trouble when trying to defend my beliefs. I know I can get a little worked up. I'm going to use very secular terms in the next part of my post to show things in as plain language as possible.
Let's go back to the basics: from the moment when a sperm and egg combine during the biological process of fertilization, a new human has been created. Now, is this life or is this the potential for life? It is life! It is a human life with it's very own unique DNA.
Now the to crux of the issue that was posted on Facebook: it is only the "potential" for human life. I do not disagree that the newly created human life can not survive outside of the woman's body. But how would the situation surrounding how a life is being supported or sheltered make it less of a human?
Take another biological example: developing from egg to tadpole to frog. A tadpole would not survive outside of water during stages of it's development. It is still a frog that is living, growing and developing in an environment that is different from the environment it will need to survive when it reaches the next stage of development.
Let's take this a step further, a human life that has been born/exited the womb of the biological mother. I think most people would be hard-pressed to find someone who said that it would be acceptable or a choice to kill that human life. The only change is that it is no longer living inside another human being. The recently born human life can now breathe air and consume food. Is this new human life all of the sudden not dependent on another human as it was approximately 38 weeks before it exited the mother? No, this life still needs to be fed and sheltered and can not accomplish those things on it's own. Is this still only "potential" human life because it can not survive without support of another? Should this new life be able to be legally killed simply because another chooses not to support this life? No. Although it is possible that there are those who believe this should be an option, which I know is not necessarily a "mainstream" belief as abortion unfortunately is seen.
Abortion is the killing of human life during a stage of development because a woman chooses not to support that life. Does pregnancy and birth affect a woman and her life? Absolutely, there is no doubt about that fact. I believe there needs to be support women who choose to have babies regardless of circumstances. I know there are support programs out there with the potential to grow to support more pregnant women. Perhaps I will try to gather those things into a future post.
Maybe it also needs to be clearly stated that I am pro-life, not just against abortion. I do not believe in or support the death penalty or euthanasia.
On this tragic anniversary of Roe v. Wade please feel free to check out some other well done posts marking the passing of 40 years or on the topic of abortion/pro-life.
- GoDark4Life at NFP & Me
- The Deafening Silence at Endless Strength
- 180 Movie (some parts of this video are graphic)
I hope this post has made sense to those who are reading and that everyone can take the time to reflect on it. I hope and pray everyday that abortion becomes a thing of the past. I also am asking for a prayer request for the 55 million or more lives that have been lost due to abortion in the past 40 years.
I welcome any and all comments/questions to this post. I only ask that everyone keeps their comments respectful. Open debate/discussion is never a bad thing in my opinion.
