Human Life Begins at Conception

No one really doubts the fact that human life begins at conception. Human language and behavior takes it for granted! No woman, on learning that she “missed,” ever said, “Honey, I'm carrying a fertilized ovum!” Or “Bob, you're going to be dad at some point when this thing I'm carry morphs into a human being.”  This would be a species of the absurd. No, we rightfully recognize that the one conceived, dismissed as merely "a product of conception" by some in our society, is a human being, a person, a son or a daughter. 

Science - Human Life Begins at Conception

The scientific evidence is clear; a biologically distinct individual of the human species is present from the moment of conception. This is irrefutable. It also was not always clear. The ancients had no clear understanding of the matter, beyond the observation that the man provided an active contribution, whereas the woman's contribution appeared passive, limited to growing the new child within her. As recently as the 1600s such fancible ideas persisted, gradually undone by the invention of the microscope, and the turning of this instrument first to understanding mammalian reproduction in general, and finally human. 

Even so, it was only in 1876 that some understanding of the process of fertilization and conception was attained. With the progress of genetics in the 20th and 21st centuries, there can be no doubt that from the moment of conception a human being, with everything needed to develop save the nutrition and hydration provided by its mother, has come to exist. 

The conceptus is thus certainly NO blob of the mother's tissue. In fact it is in charge, releasing a chemical from its cells (human chorionic gonadotrophin) that shuts down menstruation and begins the effects of pregnancy in the mother. Abortion is, therefore, the direct, intentional ending of this human life, biologically distinct from that of the mother or father. Taking this life cannot be anything other than a subjective judgment that this life has no value, or lesser value, than the mother's. Once a society permits this it has no logical reason, other than the will of individuals or the state, to forbid infanticide, euthanasia and selective homicide for eugenic or other reasons found to be persuasive. The progress of such thinking, and the laws that have resulted in many places in recent decades, is sufficient evidence of the dehumanizing effect of abortion on consciences.

Philosophy - Human Life Begins at Conception

Another pro-life argument is the philosophical one. Philosophy, the love of wisdom, is a particular kind of common-sense reasoning about the world around us. As an intellectual discipline it has survived for over 2300 years, especially in the forms developed by Plato and Aristotle. Philosophy has many branches, from metaphysics (the causes of being, natures, existence) to logic (drawing right conclusions from true premises). 

Philosophically, we can trace our individual, personal being and existence back to the moment of conception. We need not personally remember our conception, any more than the elderly needs to remember being a baby, to know that we were once a newly conceived human being, as universal experience teaches it. At whatever stage of life we are in currently,  "you" and "I" were once one-celled, two-celled, four-celled etc. human beings, before we were new-borns, toddlers, teenagers etc..  Not only does human life begin biologically at conception, but the ineffable mystery of the person does, as well. The ending of a life in the womb is the ending of the personal "I" that would have been conscious of itself, his parents, the world later on. 

The Argument of Consciousness

The absence of a means of consciousness in the womb, as at any stage of life, does not mean the person is not present, any more than being mentally deficient, asleep, or in a coma means that "Betty" or "Bill" has ceased to be a human person. The continuity of human personhood is the same as the continuity of human life, otherwise, we are reduced to the illogic that it depends on the human will when personhood begins, and axions such as “when the mother accepts it,” or “the state defines it,” or “it is conscious of itself,” or some other subjective criteria that depends on human will, as opposed to the reality of human life.

Catholic Teaching Historically

As far as Church teaching is concerned it can be shown that in the early second century  writing the "Didache", or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, as well as other early texts, both abortion and infanticide were condemned. Both were common practices in the ancient world. If a child was unwanted, sick or disabled, it was aborted, or if born, exposed to the elements to die. In the Roman world the father decided such things. Changing it to the mother in the modern world is not progress, much less justifying. 

The sanctity of unborn human life has been the constant teaching of the Church, even in the absence of the scientific facts we know today. To take that life was sinful, but the judgment of homicide, and the penalty for it, depended on whether ensoulment had occurred. In ignorance of the scientific facts theologians followed Aristotle’s philosophical opinion of the 40th day for boys, the 80th day for girls. Science has since resolved that question, so that we know today with certainty that a human being is present and should be protected "from the moment of conception."