Article 1: Abortion Why Not?
Abortion Why Not A. It is a bad thing when people are killed. And unless another person is threatening our life, it is also gravely wrong to kill people. B. So, what are persons and why do we universally believe that it is wrong to kill people unless they are threatening our life and trying to do us harm? As far as the why, we believe that persons have some incredible value; that we did not create these persons of incredible value and that we do not have the right to decide when these persons should die. Or simply put, most people believe that God creates people and that he, not us, has a right to decide when they die. He is God, we are not. C. Now the what. What exactly are persons? This appears to be the central question in today’s abortion argument for members of the court have acknowledged that if the personhood of a fetus were to be established then by law, these unborn babies would be protected by the constitution. So when exactly does a being of human origin become a person that is guaranteed protection under the law? 1) Currently, according to legal precedent, personhood can be assumed to start at birth or more specifically the moment the baby’s head passes through the cervical opening. In other words, the only thing that has changed in this baby’s situation is the location of its head. And five seconds and a couple of inches has made the difference between a baby that is a person and a baby that is a human but not yet a person. Really? 2) On the religious end of the spectrum, most Catholics believe personhood to begin at the moment of conception; the moment when the woman’s egg and the man’s sperm unite to form an embryo/zygote. At this moment, we now have the DNA signature of a unique human being; and this living cellular organism, given the proper care and feeding will become something that looks like you and like me. Catholics believe that at this moment of physical creation, God joins in the process and unites with this physical creation, a soul. A soul is a spiritual creation, a bit of God in us so to speak and joined to us in a unique and incredible, but not yet perfect way. 3) If we were to look at this very young embryo, it would be the size of the end of a pin or possibly the period at the end of a sentence, and though it would have cellular activity and would be alive, it certainly would not look like you and me, would not breathe, would not have a beating heart, would not have brain waves…and frankly, from the looks of it, its pretty dfficult for many people to believe that this “period” could be called a person. 4) So lets step back for a moment and ask, what do you believe happens to us persons when we die? When we cease to breathe, when our hearts stop, when we have no brain waves at all, what happens to us? The overwhelming preponderance of people in the United States believe that in some way, us persons continue to exist in some sort of hereafter. But how is this possible? Our bodies certain are no longer alive and so if we are to exist, it cannot be in a bodily way. Therefore, the only way we can continue to exist is through some element of ourselves that is not bodily nor is dependent on our bodies nor is dependent on our body being alive. And it is this not bodily, not killable part of ourselves that most people call spirit and or soul. When human’s die, they continue to live in some way through their souls. This is in fact what the overwhelming number of people in America believe and have always believed. So lets travel back to that period, that embryo, just a few days old, and though it has a unique DNA signature, it does not have many cells, nor brain waves, nor heart, nor does it look anything like us. How on earth could this be a person? Well, it appears that the thing that makes Humans so special, so worthy of protection, what makes humans persons is the existence of this unkillable part of us that God creates, our souls. And thus, if a human has a soul it is a person and must be protected, by morality and by consitutional law. So the question becomes, does that embryo, that little period…does it have a soul? First question, could it have a soul? Lets just get past the reasonableness test, could it possibly have a soul? We have just established that most people believe in the existence of a soul that (although united with the body on earth) is in some way not dependent on the body. My Grandma Bly’s heart has stopped, breathing has stopped, brainwaves have stopped, yet we still believe that Grandma Bly continues to live in some way. And if Grandma’s soul can live without being united to a living body of any kind, it seems equally if not more plausible to believe that Grandma’s soul was living when Grandma’s living body was alive, but tiny, just a few cells big. 5) Thus, based on what the preponderance of Americans believe, it is certainly possible that the soul exists at the moment of conception. Today, in the Catholic Church, we believe that the sould does exist at the moment of conception. But how can we be sure? How can we beyond any reasonable doubt prove to someone else that the soul exists at the moment of conception? It seems utterly ridiculous that the sould would not exist until very late into a pregnacy. Now, my wife and I have six little children. Though there are differences between a six month old baby and a new born, that are not differences significant enough to believe that one is that different than another and further the new born infant is really not that different from the 7 month (in utero baby). No it seems reasonable to believe that the not yet born human already has a soul, and is thus a person sometime in the mother’s womb? But when? Why 8 months in Utero and not 7 months? Why 5 months and not 3 months? Is it when Brain waves start? We have already established that the existence of the soul is not dependent on a functioning brain. Why 2 months and not 1 month? Why 10 days and not 1 day? Why 1 day and not the moment of conception? It seems the only reasonable starting point we have is the moment that we have a physically unique and physically alive being, that with proper care and treatment will one day look just like you and me. But are we sure? Though guided by faith, we Catholics are sure, as Americans, no, we are not sure. And that is probably the greatest point of all. Based on what Americans believe, it seems very improbable that the soul comes into existence at the moment of birth and seems highly likely that the soul comes into existence long before birth. On the other hand, based on what Americans believe, it seems very possible that the soul could exist at the moment of conception. But are we sure? Do politicians and Judges and activists know for sure? 6) No, we do not know for sure….so lets think about what our responsibility is as citizens when we aren’t sure about something. Though as Christians we are motivated by the Golden Rule, to do unto others as you would have them do unto you….as members of society we are under no such obligation. As members of Society, we are bound by a more basic rule, the Silver Rule….to do no harm unto others or at the very least, when given two options, to do the least harm possible. So in the case of the unborn child, it is unreasonable to believe that the soul comes into existence (and thus personhood begins) at the moment of birth. It is reasonable to believe that the soul comes into existence (and thus personhood begins) at the moment of conception. Therefore, most people believe that personhood begins somewhere between conception and birth. But where? If as Americans, we are not sure, what do we do especially when it comes to the questions of whether to allow abortions, experiments on embryos..etc. We weigh the two options and we make the choice that does the least harm. For example. Let’s talk about a woman who is pregnant and is making a decision about whether to get an abortion. Let’s say that a reasonable American position is that we just don’t know for sure when that unborn baby becomes a person. What is that woman to do? Let’s say that the woman is 2 months pregnant, lets say (in this hypothetical) that she was not allowed to have an abortion because, not knowing exactly when personhood begins, people guessed that it began before 2 months. And lets say that after the fact we learn that these people were wrong, that personhood really didn’t begin until the baby was 7 months old in utero. In this situation there was harm caused towards the woman who wanted to end the pregnancy but was not allowed to do so. What was the nature of this harm? She was inconvenienced, she had her privacy violated. She was not allowed to make free decisions about her own situation in life. These are serious matters and thus you can see why some people are so serious about this issue. Now lets look at the other situation. Lets say that a woman was 2 months pregnant, wanted an abortion , and was legally allowed to…but lets say that we were wrong and that the unborn baby really was a person. Now, what harm has been caused? Answer= the greatest harm imagineable. We killed somebody, we killed a person. We are not God, we are not allowed to kill people. The person has not had even their most basic opportunity to live on this earth. Their chance to do anything, to add to the human conversation, to add their voice, their breath to be added to the world…that chance has been ended before it began. The harm that has been caused cannot be reversed; this person was created and before it ever got its chance in this world, this person has been killed. The harm caused is enormous and a far greater harm than was caused in the other situation. In this situation, the person unsure of when personhood begin would need to error on the side of doing the least harm and therefore assume the unborn baby is a person from its earliest beginnings lest a grotesque mistake be made. 7) Thus, if you are Catholic, this entire situation is a no brainer. The soul is created at conception, personhood begins at conception and thus, from the moment of conception, humans most basic right to life should be protected. But if you are not Catholic, and are not sure of when exactly personhood begins what should you do? well you make the decision that does the least harm. Thus politicians and judges who claim “not to be sure” of when the soul is created and or when personhood begins should make the choices that error on the side of least potential harm. Because if you are wrong, and you mistakenly sanction the killing of persons, you have done incalculable harm. Remember, He is God, we are not. 8) So practically speaking what should we do? We should not abort babies through medical means. We should not use chemical contraceptives that have the potential of ending pregnancies (in other words all Chemical contraceptives). We should not destroy human embryos for any reason, and a greater point, we should not be creating additional human embryos in the first place. It is these “extra” human embryos which place people in ethically challenging situations. Answer, stop creating the extra embryos in the first place. The Irish saved civilization before lets hope we can do it again. On this glorious St.Patrick’s Day; go defend the faith. Go defend human life. If we can not avoid killing fellow persons, what kind of world can we possibly have?
