Life becomes human life at the instant of conception. The gender that is determined at conception does not just start life, it defines it. Every internal organ and external feature found in an adult human being is developed into the fetus by eight weeks after conception. A just-fertilized egg has the same genetic information as a skin scraping of an adult human. Shortly after conception, there is a unique DNA code that is formed that will remain unchanged throughout the growing of the fetus and throughout the life after birth. Arguments that say that the unborn child is not living, or that it is not living until it can feel pain, or not until the third trimester, etc. are not valid because that child has been living since the moment of conception. That child has just been growing and becoming more complex. Scientists find more and more complex things in the unborn baby as it progresses in age. Scientists have found consciousness in 7-month old fetuses and measured brain wave patterns like those during dreaming at eight months gestation. The fetus meets all of the valid characteristics of a living being. It has chemical organization, cellular organization, it has the ability to grow, and the ability to respond to external stimuli. However it does not have the ability to reproduce. There are arguments that since it does not meet all of the characteristics of living things that it is not living. If this were true, then a six-year-old girl should not be considered living because she does not have the ability to reproduce. There is no stage of development where something can just become living. At the moment of conception, that very moment that the sperm and egg created the zygote, is not only when the unborn child becomes a living organism, but a human being.
Another one of pro-abortionists arguments is that the unborn child can not feel pain. A film called "The Silent Scream" proves that that statement is false. The film is a viewing of an abortion by using ultrasound. The ultrasound enabled scientists to witness the deaths of the fetuses. A doctor who performed abortions watched the film and said, " The film shows the child in the womb thrashing to resist the suction device before it tears off the head". Another doctor who performed abortions also witnessed the film and said, " You can see from the movement of the tip of the suction machine starts to move, the fetus knows it and starts to scuttle to the top of the uterus. You can see her mouth open in a silent scream. You can hear the heart speeding up, you can see the child moving, more rapidly, even the breathing increases so there is no question that this child feels pain, and actually, senses danger". In the fetus, the pain receptors develop around seven weeks after conception. This film alone shows that the fetus can feel pain and proves further that the child is a living human being.
Pro-choice women argue that they should have complete control over their own bodies and therefore should be able to have abortions as they wish. If this were to happen, then not only must abortion be allowed, but suicide. A woman has enough control over her body. She made the decision that conception would even occur. There are many different ways to avoid having an abortion. If the child is unwanted, it can be put up for adoption, but the child should not be punished for the woman's mistake. Only .1% of all rapes actually result in conception, so rape is not a reason to have an abortion. There are many different ways to avoid a pregnancy instead of an abortion. Therefore there is no excuse to have an abortion performed.
A man comes home from work one day and loses control of the wheel of his car and runs into a telephone pole. He goes into a coma and is living off machines for nearly a year. It is unlikely that this man is going to come out of his coma. It is determined that the man's brain has ceased all activity other than involuntary muscle commands ( breathing, heart functions.) It is illegal for anyone to "pull the plug" on this man because he is still considered a living human being. However, abortions are the equivalent to "pulling the plug" on the child. The unborn child carries a heartbeat, circulatory functions, and the exchange of oxygen from the mother's blood. Additionally, in later stages of pregnancy, the child shows voluntary movement often characterized as "kicking" by the mother. Therefore, for the same reason it is illegal for the doctor to "pull the plug" on a man in a coma, it should also be considered illegal for any abortions to be performed.
Doctor Jack Kavorkian is currently being prosecuted in the state of Michigan for assisting in the suicides of several people. In most states, the act of suicide is against the law. Doctor Kavorkian is being charged under these laws because it is illegal to take a life or to assist in the taking of a life. Abortion parallels with the act of assisted suicide as the mother has chosen to stop the growth of her unborn child, while Doctor Kavorkian helps people administer the proper medical compounds to end their lives. If these acts of assisting in the suicides of these people are illegal, then the act of the mother aborting the fetus should be an equal crime.
In conclusion, the constitutional right to live extends to the unborn. The unborn child does feel pain and is living. The unborn child is an individual human life in its own right and not simply a "disposable part of a woman's body." Medical science overwhelmingly proves that biological life begins at conception, and the developing embryo is not simply part of the mother, but a separate entity that inhabits the mother. All of this shows that abortion is morally and ethically wrong, and that it should be illegal.
