“The cell (zygote) results from fertilization of an oocyte by a sperm and is the beginning of a human being. Each of us started life as a cell called a zygote.” Dr. Keith L. Moore1
“(Fertilization is) that wondrous moment that marks the beginning of life for a new unique individual.” Dr. Louis Fridhandler2
“A new individual is created when the elements of a potent sperm merge with those of a fertile ovum, or egg.” Encyclopedia Britannica3
“I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception….I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life….I am no more prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent an incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic effects of puberty…is not a human being. This is human life at every stage….” Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni—professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the U. of Penn.4
“[A]fter fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being.” “[This] is no longer a matter of taste or opinion,” and “not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.” Dr. Jerome LeJeune—professor of genetics at the U. of Descartes in Paris, discoverer of the chromosome pattern of Down’s syndrome5
“It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive….It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception….Our laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be based on accurate scientific data.” Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School6
“The beginning of a single human life is from a biological point of view a simple and straightforward manner—the beginning is conception. This straightforward biological fact should not be distorted to serve sociological, political, or economic goals.” Dr. Watson A. Bowes, University of Colorado Medical School7
“The basic fact is simple: life begins not at birth, but conception.” Ashley Montague, geneticist and professor at Harvard and Rutgers (unsympathetic to the pro-life cause)8
“Modern technologies have convinced us that beyond question the unborn child is simply another human being, another member of the human community, indistinguishable in every way from any of us.” Dr. Bernard Nathanson, internationally known obstetrician and gynecologist, cofounder of NARAL9 (statement made as an atheist, views based on the biological facts, nothing even remotely religious).
“I oppose abortion. I do so, first, because I accept what is biologically manifest—that human life commences at the time of conception—and second, because I believe it is wrong to take innocent human life under any circumstances. My position is scientific, pragmatic, and humanitarian.” Dr. Landrum Shettles, obstretrician-gynecologist at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York10, his intrauterine photos of preborn children appear in over 50 medical textbooks
“The majority of our group could find no point in time between the union of sperm and egg, or at least the blastocyst stage, and the birth of the infant at which point we could say that this was not a human life.” The First Internation Symposium on Abortion11
“Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life of a human being—a being that is alive and a member of the human species. There is overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings.” The Official Senate Report on Senate Bill 158, the “Human Life Bill”12
For further reading, please visit: http://www.prolife.com/life_begins.html (Life Begins at the Beginning—A Doctor Gives Scientific Facts on When Life Begins). 1The Developing Human:Clinically Oriented Embryology, 2nd ed. (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1977), 1 2“Gametogenesis to Implantation,” Biology of Gestation, vol. 1, ed. N.S. Assau (New York: Academic Press, 1968), 76 3“Pregnancy,” The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th ed., Macropedia, vol. 14 (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1974), 968 4Report, Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session 1981. 5,6,7,8Id. 9Bernard Nathanson, Aborting America (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1979). 10Shettles and Rorvik, Rites of Life, 103 11John C. Willke, Abortion Questions and Answers (Cincinnati: Hayes Publishing, 1988), 42. 12Report, Subcommittee on Separation of Powers to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session 1981, 7. 13Raul Hillberg, The Destruction of European Jews (Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1967), 567-68. Write Comment
Magdi Allam, an Italian journalist received Christian baptism at the hands of Pope Benedict at the recent Easter vigil mass celebrated at St. Peter's. Allam has been an outspoken opponent to radical Islamic extremistism even to the point of writing a pro-Israel book, Viva Israele (Long Live Israel: see more at Wikipedia). Many westerners have criticized Pope Benedict for this bold move, but the Pope will not let extremists set the agenda by allowing freedom of conscience take a back seat to terrorism. No doubt the journalist begged the Pope to allow him to make his profession a very public one, and the pontiff certainly admires Allam's willingness to risk his life for his faith. I believe the Pope sees multiple opportunities in this Muslim's conversion, not the least of which is to rouse western cafeteria Catholics from their pick and choose mentality - so ready to avoid the hard teachings of Christ for those that conform to a modern view of expediency.
Like many Catholic converts, Allam seems to have "thought" his way into the Catholic Church. His writings point to a delineation between the path that Islam has taken compared to that of Christianity - with Christianity holding to a standard of a God who shares his rational nature with his creatures over a God who imposes only his will.
It should be said that Allam considered conversion upon his arrival to Italy with his Catholic wife for the sake of "fitting in", he never took the step, waiting for something more compelling. I believe in the not-to-distant future we will discover his path as he makes public his conversion story.
Dan Wegner released his new e-book The Pathway To Godly Courage: A Catholic's Guide To Virtue on Monday. The book explores the virtue of courage from a Catholic perspective. The book relies heavily on the Catechism Of The Catholic Church as its source for Dan's useful insights.
The E-book is available exclusively at the website www.catholiccourage.com.
Dan Wegner is a Catholic Lay Evangelist/Apologist and resides in Minnesota with his wife and two children. Dan is a revert to Catholicism after over ten years involvement in Evangelical Christianity. Write Comment
I wanted to thank Siva Nadarajah of Chicago for the photograph of the lovely stained glass image used on the website. Here is the whole image.
