DRAFT
OF A CHAPTER
Charles
P. Poole, Jr.
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Testimony of Old Testament
3. Testimony of New Testament
4. Patristic Evidence
5. Early Church Practices
6. Theological Perspective
7. Legal Perspective
8.
Scientific Perspective.
9.
Rights of Women (i.e. Pro-Choice) Perspective.
10.
Sacredness of Life
1. INTRODUCTION
From
the viewpoint of Christianity the most important thing about human life is its
sacredness. The Catechism says “From the
first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the
rights of a person” [#2270]. From the
viewpoint of a scientist one of the most interesting aspects of human life is
its early development through a sequence of stages from a fertilized ovum to
its birth, and this is summarized in the Chapter entitled Human Life which has
a link on the sidebar. The present chapter will present evidence from
scripture, from tradition, and from official Church teachings which
demonstrates the sacredness of human life, and our commission as Christians to
defend it. We will end with some
observations on why life is sacred.
2. TESTIMONY OF OLD TESTAMENT
The strongest Old Testament support for a
person being a person before birth is the story about the twin brothers Esau
and Jacob quarreling with each other before they were born. We read (Genesis
25:23): “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still
within you.” This striking example of a
quarrel between two fetuses is proof that from patriarchal times the unborn
were considered as human beings. There
is also testimony from prophets. Isaiah
talks about the Lord “who formed me as his servant from the womb” (Isa 48:5; see also 44:2, 24), which clarifies the fact that
Isaiah was a person before birth. We
read further 49:1”from my mother’s womb He gave me my name.” The Lord said to Jeremiah (1:5) “before you
were born I dedicated you,” and later
3. TESTIMONY OF
Perhaps
the most cogent biblical proof that the unborn are persons is the story (Luke
4. PATRISTIC EVIDENCE
The Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, explicitly
states “Do not
kill a fetus by an abortion, or destroy the infant already born” so this was
clearly Church teaching at the end of the first century. Similar condemnations
of abortion and infanticide appear in other early Church writings, such as the
Epistle of Barnabas, the Plea for
Christians by Athenagoras, and the Paedagogue of
Clement of Alexandria. The Didache is the oldest nonbiblical
Christian document in our possession, dating from perhaps 90 to 120 AD,
depending on the assignee. It was written about the same time as the Epistle of
Jude and the Pastoral epistles of
5. EARLY CHURCH PRACTICES
During
the early centuries of the Christian era, from the years 300 to 600 AD, all
abortion was universally condemned, but it was only considered as homicide
after formation of the fetus. From the
years 600 to 1100 various penances were assigned for various offences. A shorter penance was assigned (e.g. one
year) for destroying an unformed fetus, and a longer penance (e.g. three years)
for killing a formed one, with the Aristotelian choice of 40 days being the
usual criterion for formation taking place (some said 40 days for male and 90
days for female fetuses). Thomas Aquinas agreed with this timescale for
formation, but Augustine preferred a criterion of 46 days in recognition of the
46 years that it took Solomon to build the
6. THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
The
Catholic theological position on the beginning point of human life is clear
from Sect. 2270 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (
Section. 2275 of the
7. LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
In
recent years society has arrived at a consensus that the legal definition of
death is the cessation of brain activity, and the inability to detect these
brain waves with an electroencephalograph.
To be internally self-consistent the legal beginning of human life
should be set at least as early as the onset of a detectable brain wave
pattern, which occurs as early as 40 days.
Once a fetus reaches the point of development where brain waves can be
detected then from a legal viewpoint it should certainly be considered as a
human being entitled to all the rights and privileges there unto
appertaining. The older heart beat
criterion would be earlier still, from 18 to 25 days. Such a legal definition
would certainly not be in accord with our Christian moral code of ethics, but
its adoption would be an enormous advantage over the present situation of
unrestrictive legalized abortion on demand.
If the 40 day brain wave pattern criterion were to be achieved it would
still be appropriate to continue campaigning for an even earlier legal
criterion. There are situations in a
mixed religion society when it can be more prudent to temporarily support the
adoption of attainable laws that are moderately favorable to our Christian
moral principles, than to insist on the adoption of laws based directly on our
Christian moral values that may be unattainable. This was the situation faced by the Church in
the
As a
point of clarification, the fact that brain waves can be detected from a fetus
at 40 days makes it clear that the infant is indeed legally a human person at
and beyond that point of development, but this does not provide us with any
information about its status prior to 40 days.
For its prior status we must take into account scientific and
theological considerations.
8. SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE
The
scientific facts point to an even earlier time for the beginning of human life,
namely at either conception or implantation.
At fertilization, the union of a male sperm cell and a female ovum to
produce a fertilized ovum with a unique
To adopt this scientific
criterion legally would make the majority of present day abortions illegal, and
almost all of the killing of innocent human life would be stopped. As a scientist I can appreciate the reasoning
behind the scientific perspective, and as a Catholic I accept the judgment of
the Magisterium quoted above “Human life must be
respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a
human being must be recognized as having the rights of a
person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to
life.”
9. RIGHTS OF WOMEN (i.e.
PRO-CHOICE) PERSPECTIVE
From the viewpoint of the
Pro Choice movement the dominant factor in the abortion debate is the so called
intrinsic right of a woman to have total control over her body, and the infant
within her is considered a part of her body.
She allegedly has just as much justification to remove from her body a
living appendix or a living cancerous organ as she has to remove a living
fetus. To those in the movement this
consideration is paramount, overriding everything else. The major fallacy of this argument is the
scientific fact that the infant in the mother’s womb is a separate individual
with its own unique set of chromosomes.
He or she, as well as the mother, has a right to live. The baby has simply taken up a temporary
residence within the mother, and she has an obligation to grant her offspring
her hospitality. She has no right to
treat him or her as a foreign invader to be banished at will. This Pro-Choice reasoning is simply contrary
to the scientific facts of the case.
10. SACREDNESS OF
As
Christians it is important for us to emphasize the sacredness of human
life. We should not only accept the
facts of science, but use them to our advantage as we seek to gain wider
acceptance for the sacredness of life. Many abortions have been averted by
letting the mother view the movements of the baby in her womb with the aid of
ultrasonic imaging. We are disturbed by
the efforts of pro-choice advocates who try to prevent future mothers from
witnessing the movements of their future offspring via ultrasound. They, of all people, should be the ones most
supportive of a fully informed free choice.
We, in turn, must proclaim that from the beginning of his
existence at conception a human being has the right to maintain his or her
life, and neither individuals nor society have the right to end it, whether it
be before the birth, during the process of being born, or afterwards. It is hoped that the above reflections will
serve to foster the attainment of these objectives.
Other bioethical questions, such as the morality of experimentation on a human fetus and stem cell research, involve issues that are related to those discussed here.