At conception, is the being in a woman's body "alive"?
Is it anything other than human?
A fetus is human life, but it is not a human being. It is only a potential human being. Surely from a logical and scientific point of view, a fertilized egg is not the same thing as you or I. Early on, it cannot think, talk, move, breathe, eat, or do anything that we associate with being a viable living person. Granted, as time goes on the fetus takes on more and more attributes of a human being, but it really does not fully become one until it is removed from the womb and begins its walk through life as an independent person. This being the case, it is very easy to understand why some people would hold that the termination of a pregnancy is not murder even though many other people believe otherwise. The facts are clear in this matter. Early on in a pregnancy, several hundred cells in the womb, even though they have the potential of growing into a human being, scientifically, are not much different from any other tumor or cancerous growth. Therefore, their removal is not murder. These are the facts and no amount of pompous posturing or references to the bible can change these facts.
Man is created in the image of God. The Christian God is three entities; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. A human being, similar to God, is also three things; mind, body, and soul. If you take away any of these three things, a person no longer exists. Therefore, the destruction of a body without a mind cannot be and is not murder. We substantiate this truth every time life support is withdrawn from a brain dead individual so as to allow them to die naturally. Using this same line of reasoning, the destruction of a fetus without a functioning brain cannot be murder either even though the cells that are terminated, if left alone, would eventually develop a functioning brain. The potential to have a brain is not the same as having one and it is wrong to convict someone of murder for stopping something that may eventually happen but hasn’t yet.
Similarly, if the soul is a necessary component of a human being as Christians believe, then from a Christian point of view, the termination of a living organism with no soul is not murder. Therefore, as Christians, the question that must be answered before we are justified in declaring that the destruction of a fetus is murder is at what point in the development of a fetus does God provide a fetus with a soul? No one knows the answer to this question and nowhere is this addressed in the Bible. A soul may be present at conception, but it is just as reasonable to believe that a soul enters the body at first breath. Fundamentalists choose to believe God gives a fetus a soul at conception, but there is no biblical or scientific basis for their belief and what they believe is simply a matter of personal choice.
Therefore, it should be clear that a good Christian can believe that abortion, while being morally wrong, is not murder and should not be against the law for this reason. Fundamentalists, on the other hand, without any rational or biblical support for what they believe, choose to believe that abortion is murder and far worse, are self-righteously and wrongfully trying to force their beliefs upon every one else through the power of the state. They have made a personal choice as to what they believe and having made this choice they want to deny the right to make this choice to everyone else. This is tyranny! The Fundamentalists call themselves pro-life. What they really are is “pro” making everyone else abide by their religious beliefs and having the state throw people in jail who do not.
