Unrestricted Abortion

A new Colorado abortion clinic is now offering abortions for any reason as any gestation according to the Washington Post. The idea of “late term abortions” was once to taboo for any politician to support. Pro-abortion candidates have historically distanced themselves from the idea of late term abortions and dismissed the notion that such a thing even ever occurs. However, times seemed to have changed, at least in Colorado. “There’s only about 15 doctors in the country that do later [abortion] work, and we have 20% of those doctors in our group,” noted the clinic director with pride.

The Catholic Church has designated October as Respect Life Month. This makes the late term abortion news out of Colorado even more shocking. It is comforting that most people still recoil at the idea of a late term abortion. But if abortion is wrong, it is just as wrong moments after conception as it is just before birth.

While the abortion debate drives emotions and puts one on defense like no other issue; following the precepts of logic distills the issue down to one essential question. Every argument in favor of abortion rights or against them can be worked backwards to the fundamental question which dictates one’s point of view. That is, at what point is a human being entitled to constitutional rights and protection.

If progressive values of equality stand on anything firm, it is the underlying principle that we are one human race. The greatest progressive value of modern times has been the championing of basic human rights for all. The most basic human right is to survive, to live. The key scientific question for the progressive value of human rights is when exactly does a human being become entitled to human rights?

Who has Rights?

Judicial rulings have reinforced a parent’s right to withhold constitutional rights like speech and liberty while their children are minors. Eat your dinner or no desert. Go to bed when we decide. However, it is clear that no parent has the right to withhold a child’s constitutional right to life once that child is born. So, when does the child inherit this constitutionally protected right to life that even a parent’s rights cannot interfere with?

Let us start where there is agreement and move backward. If a one-year-old child has a right to life, then certainly a 1 day-old. Even at 1 minute after birth, there is broad agreement. If exiting the womb is a clear indication of this fundamental right, what is the science to back it up? To what can a law point to justify giving legal protection to a child outside of the womb but not one inside the womb. There is essentially no difference in viability 1 minute, 1 hour or even one day before a child is born. C-sections are scheduled frequently for various reasons and could arbitrarily be a day earlier or later. Surely, the right to life as determined legally and scientifically cannot be at the scheduling convenience of a hospital or the Doctor’s availability. The Supreme Court has already upheld laws giving children this right before they are born if they are considered viable.

Advancements in medicine have made babies viable outside of the womb much earlier. Viability moves earlier and earlier with each discovery. Is the heartbeat or brainwaves a factor? We can now see in 3D Ultrasounds the developing facial characteristics of children. Each advancement in science lets us detect the heartbeat earlier. “By projecting light through the uterine wall of pregnant women,” a 2017 study by British Scientists found that “34-week-old fetuses will turn their heads to look at face-like images,” according to USA Today June 8 2017. “We have shown that the fetus can distinguish between different shapes, preferring to track face-like over non-face-like shapes,” said psychologist Vincent Reid of Lancaster University in The United Kingdom.

Human Biology and New Discovery

One might expect the pivotal moment of the existence of a new human being with rights, dreams, and a future to be marked by a visible milestone. From a legal perspective, science should offer a definitive moment when a human being is now deserving of protected human rights. When does science say that something dramatic happens and a new separate and distinct human being exists?

“Human life begins with a bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg, scientist have shown for the first time, after capturing the astonishing fireworks on film,” according to the UK Telegraph April 26 2016. Researchers from Northwestern University, in Chicago, studied the moment of fertilization using camera microscopes over a six-year period. “An explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception,” the Telegraph story continued. This “zinc spark” was discovered in mice five years earlier, but this was the first time it was recorded in human eggs. The researchers’ findings were published April 26, 2016 in Scientific Reports. Media stories at the time focused on the benefit to identifying quality eggs for fertility treatments, but this discovery is no doubt a watershed moment in the scientific pursuit of when human life begins.

We spend millions of dollars to look for the trace of single cell life on other planets. The scientific community would rightly cheer such a discovery. Some will argue a clump of cells developing is not worthy of human rights. If that is true, then when does one inherit human rights? Every science textbook will tell you that clump of cells is alive. It meets the definition of an organism. It is clearly a human organism and not a reptile or a baby seal. There is no other fundamental event where something new exists with its own unique DNA that is alive, that is human, and did not exist before that moment. If an unborn child is not entitled to human rights, I will admit no argument based on religion or morality has merit in the public debate. But, if this unborn human life for is entitled to human rights; no argument about women’s individual rights or any other has merit. Abortion is not about reproductive rights. Any decent high school biology textbook will validate that once a mammal is pregnant, reproduction has already occurred. The question is when does the new human life deserve constitutional protection. The options currently range from viability to conception. If you believe something other than conception; the scientific evidence is lacking. To quote Dr. Seuss from Horton Hears a Who, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”