QUOTE; "1) There is no scientific consensus as to when human life begins, a point made by such institutions as the National Academy of Sciences and the American Medical Association.1 These scientists say that the point at which a new person comes into existence cannot be scientifically discovered; it is a matter of philosophic opinion or religious belief, not scientific fact. It requires a judgment of what we consider a human being to be. For instance, does a human being consist of genetic information, or a disembodied soul, or a consciousness in a body? Or is it a separate, social being who has been born?"
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First; Even if there is no consensus, (which is highly questionable from a strictly scientific standpoint) lack of consensus mitigates strongly against allowing abortion, because by their own admission; abortion advocates could be promoting the killing an Innocent Human being. Secondly the biological facts are not even in question from a scientific perspective. As Robert George notes:
"“When does the life of a human being begin?” To answer this question is to decide whether or not human embryos are, in fact, human beings and, as such, possessors of inherent human dignity. Where do we go to find the answer? Not to the Catechism of the Catholic Church. If the Catechism takes a position, it must do so derivatively. That is to say, its position will be derived from another source. (I’ll identify that source in a moment.) Not to the Bible, which says nothing about human embryos. Not to the Talmud, which (like the Bible) was composed centuries before the discovery of the ovum—-a time when almost nothing was known about embryogenesis. Not to the Koran. Not to our “moral intuitions.” Rather,
we go to the standard texts of modern human embryology and developmental biology—for example, the texts by Keith Moore and T.V.N. Persaud; Bruce M. Carlson; Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Mueller; and William J. Larsen.
When we consult these works, we find little or nothing in the way of scientific mystery or dispute.
The texts tell the same story and answer the key question in the same way.
Anyone who wishes to know when he or she as a distinct living member of the species Homo sapiens came into existence need only open any of these books and look up the answer."
(Robert George, from the National Revue)
Your source is trying to justify abortion by twisting and ignoring the scientific fact that a new and genetically distinct Human being begins to exist as such at the moment of conception. |
