Oh the Humanity! - New Evangelizers

If you speak to your non-Catholic friends, and sadly sometimes your Catholic friends, at some point the topic will turn to abortion. Catholics are unabashedly pro-life. Some people see this as an extreme position, especially since we do not make exceptions to our position for things like rape and incest, or even for the “health of the mother.”

You will be challenged to defend that position. And the defense is ultimately a simple and cogent one. It relies on two simple principles, one found in a book, the other in a document. What book and document? Well, the Bible and Humanae Vitae certainly outline those principles and explain them well. But it is unlikely that your non-Catholic friend will accept either of these as arguments for the Catholic position on abortion.

There is another book and another document. The book is Human Embryology and Teratology, 3rd edition by Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Müller publishes in 2001 by Wiley-Liss. On page 8, we read:

“Although life is a continuous process, fertilization (which, incidentally, is not a ‘moment’) is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.”

In other words, a new human being comes into existence at fertilization. Not at birth, not after “viability” or the first trimester or any other criteria your friend wants to throw out there, but at fertilization.

That is science, not faith.

And that textbook is not unique. You can open up just about any textbook on embryology and find the same information, because this is settled science, not a theory. That the newly formed cell is an individual organism is not up for debate. It is not “part of the mother’s body” or a “disorganized mass of cells” or a “parasite” or a “tumor.” Nor is the fact that it is a human organism up for debate. Genetic testing has removed and question of that.

So the only question up for grabs is does this human being have the right to life? For that we can turn to the Declaration of Independence, which states:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

So, which of these can we do away with? Science, or American Independence?

There are those who would give up both in order to hold onto their position regarding abortion, but it is not a rational position to hold. For if we give up science and say that politics or personal expedience trumps it, well, we’re back to being able to say that Africans are not human but an inferior species (as governments did before science proved them wrong). And if we give up our liberties as defined by our founding documents, then we give our government the power to control our speech, our travels, and our very lives.

But if we accept that humans are created at fertilization, and that humans have certain rights, including the right to live – two simple, reasonable and rational principles, then we have to follow these principles to their rational conclusion. Abortion is wrong, always and everywhere. The baby conceived in rape or incest is still a human being with a right to live. The baby whose mother is ill is still a human being with a right to live.

Yes, the Bible and Church documents tell us that abortion is wrong, but it is not an extreme position based only on “blind faith” but a rational position based on science and logic.

Copyright 2014, Michael Lindner

Michael Lindner

Mike is a scouter, a science geek, a dad, a husband and a Catholic. He earns a living as a software engineer in beautiful New Jersey. In his spare time (ha ha) he muses at his blog What Does Mike Think? He is not a writer (which will be painfully obvious after reading his posts) but feels called to apologetics and evangelization anyway. You have been warned.