Purdue Students for Life

1. Purdue Students for Life "Science teaches that human life begins at conception. If it is also true that it is affirmed by religion, it does not for that reason cease to be a strictly scientific truth, to be transformed into a religious opinion. He who denies that human life begins with conception does not need to contend with religion, but science. To deny this certainty of biology is not to express a lack of faith, but a lack of basic knowledge of human genetics, something that is even known by the general public." ~ Ecuadorian Federation of Societies of Gynecology and Obstetrics,

2. Pro-Life News Updates There has been a new move to protect pro-life doctors. With President Bush’s support, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt added additional protection to the existing laws that give the personnel and medical centers the ability to opt out of abortions and not face employment discrimination. The new policies provide some level of enforcement by revoking federal funding from those medical centers or state and local governments that discriminate anyway. AB 2747 is a bill in the California legislature which greatly threatens the sick and dying in vulnerable states. The legality of committing suicide by ceasing to eat or drink has been established in California and this "right" has explicitly been extended to those who are not in any way terminal. One of the most important aspects of the case is that it requires physicians who do not agree with the suicidal action to abet the suicide anyway. AB 2747 was sponsored by 'Compassion in Choices' the new name for the Hemlock Society, America's leading 'right to die' organization. The Mexico Supreme Court has come under fire for upholding a federal district law allowing abortions up to 12 weeks into pregnancy. The decision went further than the Roe v. Wade opinion released by the United States Supreme Court. While the American high court created a right to abortion that didn’t exist in the Constitution, the Mexico high court allowed the federal district to legalize abortions even though the Mexican constitution contains specific provisions protecting the right to life ofunborn children.

3. When Does Life Begin? Ancient Views Plato contended that the human soul does not enter the body until birth and wrote in his Republic that abortion should be compelled in any woman who becomes pregnant after forty. Stoics held that the fetus was no more than a part of the woman's body during the entire duration of pregnancy and was ‘ensouled’ only at birth. Pythagoreans stressed that the human soul was created at the time of conception and this is reflected in the Hippocratic oath. Hippocrates was of seemingly a minority position in ancient Greece, in that he disapproved of abortion. The Oath expressly forbids giving a woman "an instrument to produce abortion," Aristotle believed that males were more active than females, thus he believed that theywere quicker to develop, obtain a soul, and become animated within the womb.

4. When Does Life Begin? Religious Views Jewish law is clear in emphasizing the belief that human life begins once the head of a full term baby emerges from the birth canal. Saint Basil the Great, writing in 374 declared that abortion was murder, and that no distinction between the formed and the unformed fetus was admissible in Christian morality. 1588, Pope Sixtus V mandated that the penalty for abortion (or contraception) was excommunication from the Church. However, his successor, Pope Gregory IX, returned the Church to the view that abortion of an unformed embryo was not homicide. This was largely the view until 1869, when Pope Pius IX again declared that the punishment for abortion was excommunication. Certain Persian, Hindu, and Buddhist texts applied ritual penalties to abortion on the level for those of homicide. Buddhism opposed the destruction of any form of life. Abortion violated the Buddhist ideal of self-sacrifice; its price is the woman's entrapment in the perpetual cycle of birth and rebirth Islamic law regards the fetus as a possible heir that can have his own heirs, but abortion is only punishable when it is done without the fathers consent

5. Modern Theories The Metabolic viewtakes the stance that a single developmental moment marking the beginning of human life does not exist. Both the sperm and egg cells should individually be considered to be units of life in the same respect as any other single or multicellular organism. Views dividing lines between prenatal developmental stages as mere constructs, useful for explanation, and not definitive points. The Genetic viewthe position that the creation of a genetically unique individual is the moment at which life begins. This event is often described as taking place at fertilization, thus fertilization marks the beginning of human life. The twinning argumentstates that although a zygote is genetically unique from its parents from the moment a diploid organism is formed; it is possible for that zygote to split into two or more zygotes up until 14 or 15 days after fertilization. In addition, approximately half of all fertilized eggs will not fully develop.

6. Modern Theories Embryological Viewis the common view that life does not begin until gastrulation — that point at which the zygote is an ontological individual and can no longer become two individuals. Gastrulation commences at the beginning of the third week of pregnancy, when the zygote, now known as an embryo, is implanted into the uterus of the mother. Blood positionstates that life does not begin until the “life-force” i.e. blood is present in the embryo. This view is thought to have Biblical origins. This happens approximately 20 days after conception. Possible ramifications include the justifiability of embryonic stem cell research. Neurological Viewstates that because modern society defines death as the cessation of brain waves, then the beginning of life should be viewed as the point when this brain activity begins. The point at which a fetus will start to show the same neurological pattern as a mature brain, is at approximately 24-27 weeks gestation. However, at week 5 the first neurons begin to appear, at week 6 the first synapses can be recognized, and at 7.5 weeks the embryo displays its first reflexes in response to stimulus. Thus around week 8 the embryo has a basic three-neuron circuit, the foundation of a nervous system necessary for rational thought.

7. Modern Theories Ecological/technologicalview designates the point when an individual can exist separately from the environment in which it was dependent for development as the beginning of life. This point is also known as the point of viability. With modern medical technology, premature infants can be viable as early as 25 weeks. Self-Consciousnessview is the least common. Its supporters, among them Michael Tooley argues that the moment life begins, is the moment at which the human child gains consciousness (this is not until about 2 years after birth.) He also states that abortion and infanticide are essentially no different, and if you support one, you must support the other. He believes that aversion to infanticide is based on emotion rather than logic.

8. What We Believe “Basics of Biology” gives five characteristics of living things; these five criteria are found in all modern elementary scientific textbooks: 1. Living things are highly organized. 2. All living things have an ability to acquire materials and energy. 3. All living things have an ability to respond to their environment. 4. All living things have an ability to reproduce. 5. All living things have an ability to adapt. Under this view, there is no question tha t life begins at conception. Never can the embryo or fetus be considered part of the woman’s body. Dr. Albert Liley, the renowned physiologist known as the "Father of Fetology" has stated, "Biologically, at no stage of development can we subscribe to the view that the unborn child is a mere appendage of the mother. Genetically, the mother and baby are separate individuals from conception."

9. Other Upcoming Events • First Fundraising Campaign • We will be sending out letters asking for donations. • Letters will go out on September 22nd. • Please bring the names and addresses of at least 10 pro-life family members, friends, neighbors, church members, etc. • Money raised goes to lowering the cost to go to the March for Life and paying a speaker for pro-life week. • T-shirts! • Please submit a design for this years t-shirt sometime this week. We will be voting on them NEXT meeting!