Today we're going to ask a simple question:
Is abortion wrong? To answer this
question without all the emotion that
usually surrounds it, we need to approach
it logically, so we're going to do this
today through a syllogism. This is how it works:
We state two premises. If they're
correct, then the third statement will
necessarily be true. Here it is. Number
one: Abortion terminates an innocent human life.
Number two: It is wrong to
terminate an innocent human life.
if those are correct, then number three
follows, which is: Abortion is wrong.
So, in this first video we're going to consider
premise number one: Abortion terminates
an innocent human life. Is that true?
There many things we could say about
that statement, but the most important
concerns a word "life." Is a fetus alive?
If you look up the definition of life in
the Merriam-Webster dictionary, you'll
find these definitions among others: "the
quality that distinguishes a vital and
functional being from a dead body" or "an
organism state characterized by capacity for
metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli,
and reproduction." So, if we want to know
if something is alive, we need to find
out if it's different than something
dead and if it has a capacity for growth
and reaction to its surroundings.
A baby is usually born in about the ninth month
of gestation. Most of us wouldn't argue
that a baby when it's born is alive, but
the question is when did it become alive?
The moment it came out of the birth
canal? If so, then the definition of
life would have to be relocation just a
few inches from the birth canal to
outside the mother. That's not very
scientific.
So, obviously life doesn't begin in the
ninth month. How about the eighth month?
During this month, the baby is almost
completely formed. Nothing really happens
there that indicates the beginning of
life, so we have to back up to the
seventh month. In the seventh month, the
baby's hearing develops and the baby
responds more frequently to stimuli such
as sound, pain, and light.
Obviously, there's life at that point, so maybe
something happens in month six to cause life.
In month six, the baby's veins
become visible and finger and toe prints
are distinguishable. The eyes also open
and the baby responds to sound. It sure
seems to be alive at this point, so maybe
we need to go back to month five.
In month 5, the baby
to move and hair begins to grow. Because
we don't usually find hair growing on a
dead person, we know at this point the
baby is alive. In month four, the eyelids,
eyebrows, eyelashes, nails and hair are
formed. Reproductive organs are developed,
so we can even do an ultrasound to find
out the gender. So far, we've seen nothing
to indicate that any point the baby was
not alive and now is, so maybe the magic
happens in month three. In month three,
the arms, hands, fingers, feet, and toes are
fully formed. The baby can open and close
its mouth all the organs are present and
will continue to mature as time goes on.
The circulatory and urinary systems are all
working. Yes, the baby is alive in month
three, so we have to go back to month two. In month two, the baby's facial features
continue to develop, the brain and spinal
cord are formed, and a heartbeat can even be detected.
Now, that's important. One of the
first things we do if we walk in a room
and find someone lying there is we check
for a heartbeat. We all know that a
heartbeat shows that a person is alive.
We can't disregard common sense just
because the person is still inside the
uterus. So, we come all the way back to
the first month of gestation. The
fertilized egg is growing at this point.
Remember, the ability to grow is one of
the definitions of life. A face starts to
develop on the baby and circulation begins.
Although the baby is only about 1/4 inch
long at this time, the heart starts to
beat. So, even in the first month, we have
something growing with a heartbeat.
There's nothing in this whole
gestational process that we can point to
and say, "there was no life here, but now
there is," UNLESS we go all the way back
to the fertilization of the egg, that we
call conception. What is inside the
mother is a human being. To end its life
is to terminate the life of an innocent
human being. Now, there's another issue
that we need to deal with before moving
on to premise number 2, and that is the
argument that we can destroy the fetus
because while it's still in the mother
it's not viable, meaning it can't survive
on its own. In the next video we will
answer that question, then in the third
video, we'll look at premise number 2,
that it's wrong to terminate an innocent
human life.
