Mr. Cooper.

I will not pretend to know about religion or the bible. As you will be able to realize from my sentence structure and use of the English language, I am not all that intelligent. What I do believe is that human life begins at conception. I did not exist until my fathers sperm and my mothers egg fused to create a distinct organism that could only have been human. Before I was an adult, I was a child. Before I was a child, I was a baby. Before I was a baby, I was a fetus. Before I was a fetus, I was a zygote. These are the stages of human development. At no time was I anything except human. I was never just a mass of cells that could have become a monkey or an elepant. I was never a set of tissue that could be looked upon as cancer. From the very beginning I was a human being both in mind and body each intrinsic of the other. Although, dependent on my mother while in her womb, I was a distinct individual completely different than my mother. An individual that the Constitution of the United States assigns rights to. Particularly, the right to life. The argument that you make in regards that abortion is not ideal but it is the only practical solution is not valid because it is not only immoral but it is denying the rights of the unborn baby who is an innocent human being. Rights that the US Constitution states that every individual has.
I would like to claim these arguments for life as my own. Unfortunately, my scattered brain needed the help of Robert P. George and his book "Clash of Orthodoxies" to clarify my stand. I would recommend this book to pro-abortion advocates as well as anti-abortion advocates.

Pete, you sound very intelligent to me and seem to have the wisdom of God.Thank you for defending human life!Your argument is sound and persuasive. gloria poole pappas,RN

Pete,

Don't put yourself down. You stated your position well. As far as I can determine, the issue of abortion comes down to whether the fetus is human life. If it is then abortion is murder and should be abhorred by both Christians and non-Christians alike. If the fetus is not human life, then abortion should be an option open to women. I respect the fact that you believe a fetus is human life. I myself am uncertain. I am looking for medical evidence to support either side. This will be my primary standard to determine my position. I would certainly appreciate it if you have run into any such evidence and could lead me to it. I will look up the book you cited and put it on my reading list.
I appreciate your conviction. Please understand that I have heard the issue asserted as strongly from the opposite side of the table.

Mr. Cooper.

Thank you for the encouragement. Old habits die hard.

Your open mindedness is admirable. I, perhaps, had that stance at one time in regards to aborion and it lead me to my convictions now. You know as well as I, due to the nature of an issue such as aborion we all seem to be a little too willing to close our minds and not have to think through this tough decision. The importance of the consequences does create a sense of urgency for this decision. Whether the consequence be from my stand of abortion being immoral or from your potential/current(Respectively-I am not sure) stance of abortion.

My convictions were formed because, I believe that I have found truth when I came to the conclusion that an unborn baby at any stage is indeed a human life. This has what has not closed my mind but what has made me delcare my belief with conviction. There might not be a whole lot difference there I admit. In order to reciprocate(sp?) your open-mindedness, I will be willing, as you are, to test my belief with any evidence you can supply that is contrary to human life beginning at conception.

What I appreciated so much about the Clash of Orthodoxies is that Robert P. George defined the pro-abortion argument at all levels. He was not only able to counter-argue for life on all levels he also was able to show how pro-life in general is consistent with society. I was going to pick out a couple of pages that define the scientific arguement of when life begins, which the book will lead you to believe that it is at conception(no surprise), but I would then be afraid you will miss the rest that the book has to offer.

In the book "Clash of Orhtodoxies" Robert George references a debate held by the American Political Science Association. The debate is between John Finnis and Jeffrey Reiman and it is on abortion. My understanding is that during this debate the issue of when life begins is covered. I have tried to find the debate in written form and I have been unsuccesful so far. However, Robert George has another book available by the title "Public Reason..". In this book are the essays that both John Finnis and Jefrey Reiman used for the basis of their debates. I plan to get a hold of this book but most likely will not have a chance to read it until early next year.

Mr Cooper, I hope you have a good holiday and I look forward to our exchanges.

I read this post and wanted to tell you that you can find the evidence you seek by going to any medical library and looking in either a genetics textbook or a obstetrics/gynecology text. Also,ask yourself the basic question: Does each species reproduce after itself? For instance do mating cats produce cats? Do mating dogs produce dogs? Do mating horses produce horses? Do mating humans produce humans? I think your debate with yourself is making it too difficult. Even a very young child understands that when a pregnant woman's belly is swollen like a watermelon that there is a child within. Ask one sometime when you see a small child with a pregnant woman. As to the medical answer, of course a human female egg when penetrated by human male sperm is human, what else could it be? A person does not become a cat in the womb. And a cat does not become a person in the womb! And the single cell has millions of genes and chromosones that have complex instructions about how to create a new being. That one cell starts immediately dividing and keeps on doing that constantly until in just 28 days the human appearance is there and the human heart is beating and the human brain is working and the human kidneys are developing. By the third month after the fertilization of the egg, the human baby has all organs formed. After that time, the baby will continue to enlarge and develop and flesh out. A human embryo is human, a human fetus is human, a human neonate is human, a human child is human, a human teenager is human, a human adult is human, a human elder is human! It is the sequence of life. Gloria Poole Pappas,RN