Purdue Students for Life

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Purdue Students for Life
"Science teaches that human life begins at
conception. If it is also true that it is
affirmed by religion, it does not for that reason
cease to be a strictly scientific truth, to be
transformed into a religious opinion. He who
denies that human life begins with conception
does not need to contend with religion, but
science. To deny this certainty of biology is not
to express a lack of faith, but a lack of basic
knowledge of human genetics, something that is
even known by the general public." Ecuadorian
Federation of Societies of Gynecology and
Obstetrics,
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Pro-Life News Updates
There has been a new move to protect pro-life
doctors. With President Bushs support, Health
and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt added
additional protection to the existing laws that
give the personnel and medical centers the
ability to opt out of abortions and not face
employment discrimination. The new policies
provide some level of enforcement by revoking
federal funding from those medical centers or
state and local governments that discriminate
anyway. AB 2747 is a bill in the California
legislature which greatly threatens the sick and
dying in vulnerable states. The legality of
committing suicide by ceasing to eat or drink has
been established in California and this "right"
has explicitly been extended to those who are not
in any way terminal. One of the most important
aspects of the case is that it requires
physicians who do not agree with the suicidal
action to abet the suicide anyway. AB 2747 was
sponsored by 'Compassion in Choices' the new name
for the Hemlock Society, America's leading 'right
to die' organization. The Mexico Supreme Court
has come under fire for upholding a federal
district law allowing abortions up to 12 weeks
into pregnancy. The decision went further than
the Roe v. Wade opinion released by the United
States Supreme Court. While the American high
court created a right to abortion that didnt
exist in the Constitution, the Mexico high court
allowed the federal district to legalize
abortions even though the Mexican constitution
contains specific provisions protecting the right
to life of unborn children.
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When Does Life Begin?
Ancient Views Plato contended that the human soul
does not enter the body until birth and wrote in
his Republic that abortion should be compelled in
any woman who becomes pregnant after
forty. Stoics held that the fetus was no more
than a part of the woman's body during the entire
duration of pregnancy and was ensouled only at
birth. Pythagoreans stressed that the human
soul was created at the time of conception and
this is reflected in the Hippocratic oath.
Hippocrates was of seemingly a minority position
in ancient Greece, in that he disapproved of
abortion. The Oath expressly forbids giving a
woman "an instrument to produce abortion,"
Aristotle believed that males were more active
than females, thus he believed that they were
quicker to develop, obtain a soul, and become
animated within the womb.
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When Does Life Begin?
Religious Views Jewish law is clear in
emphasizing the belief that human life begins
once the head of a full term baby emerges from
the birth canal. Saint Basil the Great, writing
in 374 declared that abortion was murder, and
that no distinction between the formed and the
unformed fetus was admissible in Christian
morality. 1588, Pope Sixtus V mandated that the
penalty for abortion (or contraception) was
excommunication from the Church. However, his
successor, Pope Gregory IX, returned the Church
to the view that abortion of an unformed embryo
was not homicide. This was largely the view until
1869, when Pope Pius IX again declared that the
punishment for abortion was excommunication.
Certain Persian, Hindu, and Buddhist texts
applied ritual penalties to abortion on the level
for those of homicide. Buddhism opposed the
destruction of any form of life. Abortion
violated the Buddhist ideal of self-sacrifice
its price is the woman's entrapment in the
perpetual cycle of birth and rebirth Islamic law
regards the fetus as a possible heir that can
have his own heirs, but abortion is only
punishable when it is done without the fathers
consent
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Modern Theories
The Metabolic view takes the stance that a single
developmental moment marking the beginning of
human life does not exist. Both the sperm and egg
cells should individually be considered to be
units of life in the same respect as any other
single or multicellular organism. Views dividing
lines between prenatal developmental stages as
mere constructs, useful for explanation, and not
definitive points. The Genetic view the
position that the creation of a genetically
unique individual is the moment at which life
begins. This event is often described as taking
place at fertilization, thus fertilization marks
the beginning of human life. The twinning
argument states that although a zygote is
genetically unique from its parents from the
moment a diploid organism is formed it is
possible for that zygote to split into two or
more zygotes up until 14 or 15 days after
fertilization. In addition, approximately half of
all fertilized eggs will not fully develop.
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Modern Theories
Embryological View is the common view that life
does not begin until gastrulation that point at
which the zygote is an ontological individual and
can no longer become two individuals.
Gastrulation commences at the beginning of the
third week of pregnancy, when the zygote, now
known as an embryo, is implanted into the uterus
of the mother. Blood position states that life
does not begin until the life-force i.e. blood
is present in the embryo. This view is thought to
have Biblical origins. This happens approximately
20 days after conception. Possible ramifications
include the justifiability of embryonic stem cell
research. Neurological View states that because
modern society defines death as the cessation of
brain waves, then the beginning of life should be
viewed as the point when this brain activity
begins. The point at which a fetus will start to
show the same neurological pattern as a mature
brain, is at approximately 24-27 weeks gestation.
However, at week 5 the first neurons begin to
appear, at week 6 the first synapses can be
recognized, and at 7.5 weeks the embryo displays
its first reflexes in response to stimulus. Thus
around week 8 the embryo has a basic three-neuron
circuit, the foundation of a nervous system
necessary for rational thought.
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Modern Theories
Ecological/technological view designates the
point when an individual can exist separately
from the environment in which it was dependent
for development as the beginning of life. This
point is also known as the point of viability.
With modern medical technology, premature infants
can be viable as early as 25 weeks.
Self-Consciousness view is the least common.
Its supporters, among them Michael Tooley argues
that the moment life begins, is the moment at
which the human child gains consciousness (this
is not until about 2 years after birth.) He also
states that abortion and infanticide are
essentially no different, and if you support one,
you must support the other. He believes that
aversion to infanticide is based on emotion
rather than logic.
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What We Believe
Basics of Biology gives five characteristics of
living things these five criteria are found in
all modern elementary scientific
textbooks 1. Living things are highly
organized. 2. All living things have an ability
to acquire materials and energy. 3. All living
things have an ability to respond to their
environment. 4. All living things have an ability
to reproduce. 5. All living things have an
ability to adapt. Under this view, there is no
question tha t life begins at conception. Never
can the embryo or fetus be considered part of the
womans body. Dr. Albert Liley, the renowned
physiologist known as the "Father of Fetology"
has stated, "Biologically, at no stage of
development can we subscribe to the view that the
unborn child is a mere appendage of the mother.
Genetically, the mother and baby are separate
individuals from conception."
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Other Upcoming Events

• First Fundraising Campaign
• We will be sending out letters asking for
  donations.
• Letters will go out on September 22nd.
• Please bring the names and addresses of at least
  10 pro-life family members, friends, neighbors,
  church members, etc.
• Money raised goes to lowering the cost to go to
  the March for Life and paying a speaker for
  pro-life week.
• T-shirts!
• Please submit a design for this years t-shirt
  sometime this week. We will be voting on them
  NEXT meeting!