The Catholic Church's Arguments Against Abortion

The topic of abortion is heavily debated. One of the major controversies surrounding abortion is whether or not the embryo is a human life and able to receive the same rights as any other human. Is the embryo mentally developed enough to be considered as a human life? It is medically proven that after conception, the human brain takes many months to develop, so the “personhood” of a fetus cannot begin until about the seventh month.

child is in the womb it still has a life and having an abortion is

foetus or an embryo, an infant or an adult, an old person, or one suffering from an incurable

Science tells us that from the moment of fertilization, a fetus is a human. Despite this, however, there is a swarm of controversy surrounding question, when does a fetus become a human? Many people believe that once a baby is conceived, it is considered a living human being. Many of these people believe that whether or not a fetus is a human is chiefly a scientific question. “The question as to when a human being begins is strictly a scientific question, and should be answered by human embryologists - not by philosophers, bioethicists, theologians, politicians, x-ray technicians, movie stars or obstetricians and gynecologists” (Irving). While Irving has a valid point in saying that whether or not a fetus is a human is a question mainly for

Even though most people think the scientific terms, fetus or embryo, is talking about the cells or tissues, the terms really refer to the stages of development. This means that the fetus is not just a small piece of tissue, but a human life. “The beginning of a single human being from a biological viewpoint is a simple, straightforward matter—- the beginning is conception.” (Bowes).

The main indication of life is the dividing of cells, not long after it builds up a pulse. When fertilization happens, the ovum turns into a zygote, it now has its own unmistakable genetic makeup and is currently a different being from the mother. Legally a person is pronounced dead if their heart stops pulsating, in this way they are living when a heart begins to beat. A protest to Marquis statement is that, the embryo's future is not profitable to the baby since they don't yet have the capacity to value. It is demonstrated that fetus is able hear music and different sounds while they are developing, along these lines they are cognitive. Marquis additionally answers by saying one future can be significant regardless of the possibility that they don't value it right now, similar to a person who suffers from Chronic Depression. If the person suffers from mental illness, it doesn't mean they can not make a difference. In response to Thomson states "Similar things might be said about the development of an acorn into an oak tree, and it does not follow that acorns are oak trees." (Thomson, ). The oak seed argument, expresses that ovum resemble oak seed and that they don't all can possibly get to be oak trees, yet oak seeds are much similar to an ovum. An oak seed just develops on the off chance that they are treated by water and soil, ova must be fertilized by a sperm cell

If a fetus was not born it cannot be considered a being because it has no physical existence outside the female. Up until close to birth, the fetus is not entirely developed and does not yet obtain all the essential qualities to being a person such as the ability to be self-aware.

I think what I have trouble with is the age-old question of when life actually begins. Do they not think of the embryo as an actual baby? Medical and surgical abortion procedures are performed through the first trimester, or the first three months, or twelve weeks. Let's look at the development of the baby in the first twelve weeks. Six weeks into the pregnancy the embryo has a head, eyes, ears, and a heart with two chambers. Seven weeks the limb buds have grown into arms and legs. By eight weeks the eyes, ears, and head are growing and the face is developing. Fingers and toes can also be seen. Week nine see’s the external genitals appear and by week twelve they have fully differentiated to male or female genitals. So essentially by the end of the first trimester the embryo is fully formed. Dilation and curettage, (D&C), dilation and evacuation (D&E), and induction abortions are all performed through the first trimester or the first three months. All organs are fully developed at this time. Third term abortions are also referred to as late term abortions these are not legal in a number of states, mainly because there is a debate about when the fetus actually become viable to where it can live outside the mother's womb. The majority of medical professionals claim at 24 weeks the fetus is viable. Induction abortions and Dilation and Extraction (D&E) are the abortion

Even the language of conception and gestation have been hijacked by politics and religious fundamentalists. All unborn are called “fetuses.” This clearly shows the ignorance of basic human biology. The newly fertilized egg is a zygote --- not a fetus and not a human being. It is a few cells with potential but no distinguishing characteristics and no ability to feel anything. A zygote becomes a blastocyst, which is a zygote that has reached a certain number of cells but has not yet stuck to the uterine walls. Five weeks after conception, snug in the uterine tissue it becomes an embryo. It does not become a fetus until it is ten weeks old and has ears and some facial features. Society laughs at people who call zebras “horses” and yet tolerates the word fetus for zygote, blastocyst and embryo. Getting the language right can help laypeople realize that a zygote or blastocyst is not a baby.

•I believe a embryo is one of us as it has a heart beat and is apart of the women who carries it.

The concept fetus is used to denote the unborn human from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo (the product of conception from implantation in the uterus through the eighth week of development). A fetus contains all the organs and has the basic human form. (Rand)

exact moment of when the baby is considered alive. Some of the answers include: the moment the umbilical cord is cut and the baby is breathing on its own, after the first trimester, and from the moment of conception. “Since the nineteenth century, the official doctrine of the Church has been that ensoulment (life) occurs at the moment of conception” (Ayd 49). It was Pope Paul VI who insisted “that from the moment of conception life must be guarded with the greatest care and that direct abortion is morally wrong” (Ayd 49). However, no one really knows when the actually time of life begins and people will continue to argue against each other with

opposite claim; that the unborn child, because it is a developing human being, possesses a moral status

“A living human person begins to exist at the moment of conception, even though only as a cell.” The road to human life may begin at conception, but to call abortion murder is ludicrous and a large exaggeration. Murder is described as the killing of a human being, and an unborn fetus should not be considered a living human being. A fetus is a group of cells that are completely dependent on its mother that cannot live on its own, therefore it should not be considered a human. One of the most popular arguments on the topic of abortion was the supreme court case Roe V. Wade. This case was about a pregnant single women (Roe) challenging the constitutionality of Texas abortion laws. The winning argument in the case Roe v. Wade, states that the “word ‘person’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment does not include the unborn,” putting this argument to

Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being—a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.