Within the Declaration of Independence is the passage: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among those are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
The first of these rights is the right to Life, which begs the question, “What is Life?” A living thing is a physical entity with biological processes. It is able to grow, continually changing until death. It requires energy, the ability to metabolize, in order to survive. Shortly after a human egg is fertilized, it becomes a zygote. The zygote has 46 chromosomes, 23 from the egg and 23 from the spermatozoa. The result is a unique human DNA structure. A zygote is biologically alive, fulfilling the criteria needed to establish life: metabolism and growth. Although in its earliest stage, a human life has been created. The Zygote and all stages after, from the embryo to the fetus to the neonate, are no less or more human. This is unarguable science.
Proponents of abortion claim that the fetus cannot exist outside the womb; therefore, it is not a separate entity. Using that argument, we could also claim a parasite, unable to live outside a human body, is not a separate entity. The parasite and the unborn baby are both very much alive and individual.
Abortion advocates also claim that a woman has the right to do what she chooses to her body. I agree. From the most mundane act of choosing a hair style to the extreme of taking her own life, a woman has the right to those choices. Since the abolishment of slavery in this country, no one has the right to own another person. The body of that child belongs to the child, not the woman.
A woman does retain parental rights and a moral obligation to her unborn baby. As with any child she is expected to care and provide, at the very minimum, basic necessities such as food and shelter for that child, including, if the case requires, the shelter of her womb. She does not; however, have the right to take the life of another human, including that of her unborn child.
In most cases the woman has the option to choose contraception. For Christians, the bible does not forbid contraception. This includes the morning after pill, which only serves the purpose of contraception. It is not an abortion pill.
Rape is an unusual crime in that it holds the possibility of producing a child . Punishing a child for the sins of the father is not appropriate in any circumstance. Rape is no exception. A child conceived by an act of rape is no less human than a child conceived in an act of love. The woman, again, does have a choice. She can keep the child and raise it as her own or give it up for adoption.
A child conceived is a human life and has a right to that life.
CS
