A large contingent of people who support abortion contend that an unborn baby is not a life, therefore has no rights and cannot be “murdered.”  Is life something that is up for debate?  Or are there specific parameters that define life.

                As it turns out, there is a science that studies just this subject: biology, the study of living organisms. How does biology define life?

A distinctive characteristic of a living organism from dead organism or non-living thing, as specifically distinguished by the capacity to grow, metabolize, respond (to stimuli), adapt, and reproduce

Dr. Steven Jacobs was doing research for his dissertation:

Since these sources suggested the most common view was that a human’s life begins at fertilization, I designed a survey to understand biologists’ assessment of that view. I emailed surveys to professors in the biology departments of over 1,000 institutions around the world.

As the usable responses began to come in, I found that 5,337 biologists (96%) affirmed that a human’s life begins at fertilization,

with 240 (4%) rejecting that view. The majority of the sample identified as liberal (89%), pro-choice (85%) and non-religious (63%). In the case of Americans who expressed party preference, the majority identified as Democrats (92%).

From the article: I Asked Thousands of Biologists When Life Begins. The Answer Wasn’t Popular

Biologist aren’t the only ones who observe that life begins at conception. So do doctors.

Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni, professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania, stated:

“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. Bernard Nathanson, internationally known obstetrician and gynecologist, was a cofounder of what is now the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL). He owned and operated what was at the time the largest abortion clinic in the western hemisphere. He was directly involved in over sixty thousand abortions. Dr. Nathanson’s study of developments in the science of fetology and his use of ultrasound to observe the unborn child in the womb led him to the conclusion that he had made a horrible mistake. Resigning from his lucrative position, Nathanson wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that he was deeply troubled by his “increasing certainty that I had in fact presided over 60,000 deaths.” – from Why Life Begins At Conception

“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. Nathanson

These two men and many others testified before the Senate as outlined in this article: Why Life Begins At Conception

The article also states, “A prominent physician points out that at these Senate hearings,

“Pro-abortionists, though invited to do so, failed to produce even a single expert witness who would specifically testify that life begins at any point other than conception or implantation. Only one witness said no one can tell when life begins.”

ABSTRACT: The predominance of human biological research confirms that human life begins at conception—fertilization. At fertilization, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct, individuated zygotic living human organism, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only the proper environment in order to grow and develop. The difference between the individual in its adult stage and in its zygotic stage is one of form, not nature. This statement focuses on the scientific evidence of when an individual human life begins.      

American College of Pediatricians – March 2017

Even more proof that life begins at conception found here:Life begins at fertilization. Thanks, Science!

I am no scientist, although my favorite class in High School was AP Biology.  However, I have a qualification to comment on this subject.

  I have spent a little over 7 years of my life carrying other lives inside of my body.

At conception they have a unique genetic code and immediately begin to grow and develop. Soon their heart begins to beat and I can hear it at my first appointments with the midwife.  Soon they have their own brainwaves and thoughts.  They begin to move and react to the environment.  Boy, do they begin to move! They cannot feel my pain and I cannot feel theirs, because we have totally separate nervous systems.  I cannot control their decisions or movements.  When I am getting to my due date, all I can do is ask nicely, “Baby, please be born today!” but I cannot make them drop into the birth canal head first.  And before they are born I get an idea of their personality by how and when and with what intensity they move. 

Each pregnancy was different and each life that was growing inside of me was different. Each one was a miracle that science can only begin to understand!