The Sanctity of Life: Understanding Human Development

First of all, when we look at nature and we’re trying to make a scientific designation as when a person is a person; we're trying to discover discernible clear lines of demarcation. One of the most obvious simple and easy lines of demarcation that we can ever find is birth, and many people say “There's no question about that. Once the umbilical cord is cut and that infant now is breathing on his own, is no longer dependent upon the nourishment system of his mother and is an individuated human being, then they’re clearly alive.” [00:00:00]

Now, if we're going to look for significant points of departure between birth and however far you want to go back in history of the development of this potential human being, the next clearest line of demarcation is conception. There are other points along the way: implantation, what some called ‘quickening’ or when the heart starts beating or when brain waves are discernible and so on. But as I say the most obvious point of demarcation where the process of the production of a child begins is at conception. [00:01:22]

What has been important to the medical decision on this is a relatively recent discovery – by recent, I don't mean last week but I mean twentieth century – and that is that we understand in modern science that the entire genetic code that generates the individual particular characteristics, size, shape and development, all of that, of a personal human being that entire genetic code is established at conception. Not six weeks after or twelve weeks after or three months or six months but at the point of conception the entire genetic code is there. [00:02:21]

Within 18 to 25 days after conception, there is a discernible heartbeat, and the beating of the heart, though in and of itself does not usually constitute the – the cessation of the beating of the heart doesn't immediately constitute a cessation of life in the judgment in the medical community. The beating of the heart is a very significant consideration when we’re talking about human life. I think we all understand that particularly if our heart should stop this night. [00:03:09]

Two occasions, I've heard people use statements to describe the nature of fetus. One person described a fetus as an undifferentiated mass of protoplasm and I think that’s an intemperate statement, but not only is it intemperate, it is simply biologically incorrect. It is not an undifferentiated mass of protoplasm. It is a mass that is already genetically differentiated and one that has a heartbeat and brain waves and so on. [00:04:07]

Heard another person described an unborn baby that was aborted as simply so much domestic sewage. Now again, that is an intemperate, emotive statement that adds little to any sober discussion of when life begins. But if we're going to call an aborted fetus ‘sewage’ then this demeans the process that involves a beating heart. I've never seen sewage with a beating heart or with brain waves. This reflects to me not just a question of a low view of the fetus but a low view of life altogether. [00:04:58]

It's an amazing thing that this embryo has the genetic code intact, that in a few weeks – a few days has a heartbeat, brain waves, all of those things that are critical to discerning the presence of human life. I once read a book entitled ‘Window on the Womb.’ Some of you perhaps have seen that book. And the thing that attracted my attention to that is the same type of thing that grabbed my attention in seeing the movie entitled ‘The Silent Scream’ with those who are opposed to the pro-life movement feel it’s just a piece of propaganda. [00:05:47]

If you remember ‘The Silent Scream,’ it was really a video camera shot – record of an actual abortion where one could see very clearly in the film the reaction of the fetus to the invasion of its body of a knife and clamps that crushed its skull and cut its limbs. And you could see this fetus’ face literally contorting in horror as an adult human being would if they were subjected to the same kinds of pain. [00:06:34]

And that's why the movie was called ‘A Silent Scream,’ you couldn't hear the scream and the point of the book the Window on the Womb is that we don't see what's going on inside the womb in the midst of an abortion but now we have the advanced sophisticated technology by which we can actually film what is happening in abortions as they're taking place. And what astonishes me more than anything else is how somebody can watch the drama of what is taking place here, see it visually, not just theorize about it abstractly, but see it visually and not be persuaded that what we're dealing with here is a human being because the response is essentially the same as that would be of a two-year-old child to this kind of pain. [00:07:20]

But you see, we’re voting and deciding on ethical issues and civil matters that are beyond our vision. It’s been said that the most dangerous place in the United States of America right now is a woman's womb. It's the place where most people die, but it’s invisible. And since we can’t see – women go through an emotional experience when they can feel their developing child. We called it ‘quickening.’ But if you can’t feel it, you can’t hear it, and you can’t see it, you don't think it’s real. [00:08:18]

But with the instrumentation we have of perceiving what is actually there from conception, what is actually there from conception exhibits all of the necessary characteristics of human life. We know this much for sure that at conception the natural development of a living human being begins. I was on the train a few weeks ago and I was discussing this matter with a man, and he said to me “What's the difference between an unfertilized egg and a male sperm that have never met and the fertilized egg? What’s the difference?” I said “The obvious difference is conception.” [00:09:01]

Now the egg is fertilized, the genetic code is placed intact and it’s all the difference in the world because you can have, as I say, 59 million sperms swimming as hard as they can and an egg over here defending itself as long as it can, you can have that forever, and never have a human being. But once we have conception, the process begins that is moving and driving towards a human child. And so conception is a crucial point. [00:09:49]