Issues

The Catholic Church doesn’t merely ‘believe’ life begins at fertilization. It knows it.

fertilization, sperm bank, sperm donors, sperm donations

Pro-abortion Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told CNSNews.com this month that Joe Biden “might be right” that “life begins at conception.” And yet, both men are firm abortion supporters. There are two major flaws here. The first: when life begins is not a “belief” but a scientific fact. The second: if Biden (or anyone) “believes” life begins at fertilization, then the only logical conclusion would be that he also must believe abortion ends a human life.

Biden and other “personally” or “religiously” pro-life individuals are trying to play both sides.

Religion vs. Science

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being pro-life because of religion. Christianity teaches that life is sacred and that only God can give it and take it away. The issue, however, is in relying only on religion to argue in favor of pro-life laws. As Pope Francis recently said, “The issue of abortion is not essentially religious. It is a human problem prior to any religious option. The abortion issue must be addressed scientifically.” When pro-lifers argue against abortion solely from a religious perspective, they open the door for abortion advocates to use the argument of “opinion” against them.

 

 

Case in point, Biden has said he is a practicing Catholic and that he accepts the Church’s teaching on abortion. “With regard to abortion, I accept my Church’s position on abortion as a — what we call — de fide doctrine,” he said. “Life begins at conception in the Church’s judgment. I accept it in my personal life.” In other words, he claims that for him, abortion would be wrong, but he’s okay with other people killing their preborn children.

READ: ‘Personally pro-life’ politicians: Are they truly pro-life?

The most important piece of his statement, however, is that he considers the fact that life begins at fertilization to be the Church’s opinion. It’s not. Saying that abortion is wrong solely because of the Church’s official stance allows people who belong to pro-abortion churches to do the same exact thing. It allows abortion advocates to claim that when life begins is an opinion — a belief. It gives pro-abortion activists the excuse to hold signs that state, “Get your rosaries off my ovaries.”

Arguing against abortion strictly based on religion will not change all of the hearts and minds that must be changed. Pro-lifers must include science in the anti-abortion argument, and science explicitly states that life begins at fertilization. Science tells us that the preborn child’s heart begins to beat between 16 and 22 days after fertilization.

Abortion ends a human life

Because science shows that life begins at fertilization, science also shows that abortion kills. This is true whether a person is Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or atheist. Scientifically and medically, in order for an abortion to be “successful,” the living human being growing in her mother’s uterus must be dead at the end of the procedure.

 

 

For early abortions, death comes through starvation as the abortion drugs deny the child nutrients until she dies. In first trimester D&C abortions, a preborn child with a beating heart, brain activity, hands and feet, dies when she is violently vacuumed out of her mother’s womb in pieces. In a second-trimester D&E dismemberment abortion, the child dies when her limbs are ripped from her body and her skull is crushed with forceps. In the third trimester, feticide is injected into the child’s body to stop her heart. Only when “fetal demise” occurs is the abortion considered to be a success. Fetal demise is a clinical term, but explained in layman’s terms, it means the death of the human being in the uterus.

Pro-lifers can accurately state that abortion kills a human being because the science is clear. For Biden to claim he is personally pro-life based on the opinion of his Church is a copout. In addition, any person of faith should be concerned with the souls of those involved with abortion — including those choosing death for their children and those accepting money to kill human beings made in the image of their Creator.

While not all religions place the same value on life that the Catholic Church does, science and faith uphold the same truth: life begins at fertilization.

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