When Does Human Life Begin?

That’s the question the Westchester Institute for Ethics & the Human Person , “a research institute conducting interdisciplinary, natural law analysis of complex, contemporary moral issues,” tackles in its latest white paper , “When Does Human Life Begin? A Scientific Perspective.” Here’s part of the paper’s summary:

Resolving the question of when human life begins is critical for advancing a reasoned public policy debate over abortion and human embryo research. This article considers the current scientific evidence in human embryology and addresses two central questions concerning the beginning of life: 1) in the course of sperm-egg interaction, when is a new cell formed that is distinct from either sperm or egg? and 2) is this new cell a new human organism—i.e., a new human being?

Based on universally accepted scientific criteria, a new cell, the human zygote, come into existence at the moment of sperm-egg fusion, an event that occurs in less than a second. Upon formation, the zygote is radically unlike that of either sperm or egg separately and is characteristic of a human organism. Thus, the scientific evidence supports the conclusion that a zygote is a human organism and that the life of a new human being commences at a scientifically well defined “moment of conception.” This conclusion is objective, consistent with factual evidence, and independent of specific ethical, moral, political, or religious view of human life or of human embryos.

Of course, the findings of this research are nothing new, but it’s always important to reiterate the point that arguments against embryonic stem-cell research and abortion are grounded in solid, scientific fact. As our own Fr. Richard John Neuhaus says in the foreword to the paper:

It is sometimes said that the abortion debate is about “values” rather than “facts.” An honest debate about abortion, however, is about values based on facts. If we don’t get the facts right, we will not get our values right. Establishing by clear scientific evidence the moment at which a human life begins is not the end of the abortion debate. On the contrary, that is the point from which the debate begins.

Let’s hope this scientific paper can bring us one step closer to the honest debate this country needs.