Is it when the sperm first invades the egg forming a new organism? Is it when the infant exits the womb after a full gestation period; when it takes it's first breath of air into it's lungs?
If one believes in souls or in the spirits of humans then the natural answer as to when life begins most logically would be when the spirit enters the body? Well, when is that? Since not all humans agree on this issue and it is a religious matter, I will not delve into this at this point. Rather, only consider the human life as a mammal; the living, breathing, heart beating, brain functioning, independent organism; for the sake of this article.
Most will not dispute the argument that a baby outside of the womb separated from it's mother, is a living human individual.
"most babies born after about 26 weeks gestation do survive to one year " 3
So we can safely say that at least at 6.5 months, it's a life.
"earlier preterm newborns with higher weights have survived, including some born at 22 weeks of pregnancy." 4
Wow, it looks like 5.5 months, it's safe to say, constitutes a life. It appears that more than one child removed from the womb at 5.5 months has survived.
"Doctors say Amillia is among the few babies known to have survived after a gestation of fewer than 22 weeks. She was just 9½ inches long and weighed less than 10 ounces when she was delivered by Caesarean section." 5
"Fassbach cautioned against rushing to redefine the medical standards for fetus viability."
“We just don’t know which 21- to 22-weekers are going to do well and which are not going to do well,” he said. “I don’t think we should change what we do,
but it shows us we need to do more research and find out where our edge of viability is going to go.” 5
Well, perhaps 21 weeks is the mark where life begins; that's 5 months and 1 week.
I would like to argue that at the moment of conception, that the newly formed organism, in it's natural state, has begun development into an indivdual human being.
This new human, whether removed from the womb at gestation periods of 21 weeks or a full 38 weeks, requires assistance to survive. The human organism from conception to 21 weeks, while it can't survive outside the womb, has no less capability to survive on it's own. Actually, it requires much less conscious assistance from another human being to survive; only the host mother's natural care of herself, extends to it's nourishment and growth.
Refusing to provide the required nourishment and support to a fetus at 6 weeks of gestation is no less a crime than refusing to provide the nourishment and care required of a 1 year old, 2 year old, or 4 year old child to survive. It follows that the deliberate act of aborting the life of a fetus at 6 weeks is no less a crime than the deliberate act of aborting the life of a 1 year old, 2 year old, or 12 year old child. It's murder in all cases.
The human life, as an individual, has the right to life at all ages and at all stages of development and growth.
Our constitutional republican government was instilled to protect the natural rights of all individuals from any and all infringement from any and all other individuals. We, as individuals, are responsible to respect the right to life of all other individuals and thereby are required to refraine from doing anything that would cause detrement to anothers life and also to not neglect to provide what is required of any and all individual's ability to continue to live.
The abortion of one's life by another is murder.
Murder is illegal.
Abortion is illegal.
According to the Fourteenth Ammendment to the Constitution:
"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." 6
Abortion deprives a person of life.
Abortion is unconstitutional.
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