defined by examining the scientific facts of human development. This is a field where the no controversy, no disagreement. There is only one set of facts, only one embryology book studied in medical school. The more scientific knowledge of fetal development is learned, the more science has confirmed that the beginning of any one human individual’s life, biologically speaking, begins at conception of the union of his father’s sperm and his mother’s ovum, a process called “conception,” “fertilization,” or “fecundation.” This is so because this being, from fertilization, is alive, human, complete and growing.
Comment: The above is not a religious faith belief. The above is not a philosophic theory. The above is not debatable, not questioned, is a universally accepted scientific fact.
Can the question “when does human life begin” be answered? The very existence of a nation state demands an answer. If a nation exists for one reason it is to provide order and equal protection by law for all its citizens. We must define “human life” and that life must be granted “legal personhood” if we are to be true to the total thrust of human rights and civil rights that has been the rock solid base of our form of government. What yardstick, what intellectual discipline, what method of measurement can we, should we, use when making this fateful definition?
The question of when human life begins is a scientific question. Therefore, we should look to science, rather than philosophy or religion, for the answer. Can a nation make laws on this basis, laws that, while protecting certain “human lives,” also impose specific restrictions or even burdens upon others? The ethical principle is that there is a hierarchy of rights, and the right to life itself is supreme.