In this post we are going to look briefly at Roe v. Wade, and then we are going to look at a few theories of when life begins and their impact on issues like stem cell research and cloning.
We said that we were going to base each discussion on three Scriptures.
Phill 2:3
3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.
Eph 4:2-5
2Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Gal 3:28
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Legal Background.
1973 - In deciding Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that a Texas statute forbidding abortion except when necessary to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The Court arrived at its decision by concluding that the issue of abortion and abortion rights falls under the right to privacy. In its opinion it listed several landmark cases where the court had previously found a right to privacy implied by the Constitution. The court held that a fetus was not a person under the Constitution, and that a right to privacy existed and included the right to have an abortion. The court found that a mother had a right to abortion until viability, a point to be determined by the abortion doctor. After viability a woman can obtain an abortion for health reasons, which the Court defined broadly to include psychological well-being.
A central issue in the Roe case (and in the wider abortion debate in general) is whether human life begins at conception, birth, or at some point in between. The Court declined to make an attempt at resolving this issue, noting: "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer." Instead, it chose to point out that historically, under English and American common law and statutes, "the unborn have never been recognized...as persons in the whole sense" and thus the fetuses are not legally entitled to the protection afforded by the right to life specifically enumerated in the Fourteenth Amendment. So rather than asserting that human life begins at any specific point, the court simply declared that the State has a "compelling interest" in protecting "potential life" at the point of viability..
The current judicial interpretation of the U.S. Constitution regarding abortion is that abortion if legal but may be restricted by the states to varying degrees. States have passed laws to restrict late term abortions, require parental notification for minors, and mandate the disclosure of abortion risk information to patients prior to the procedure.
The key, deliberated article of the U.S. Constitution is the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
The official report of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, issued in 1983 after extensive hearings on the Human Life Amendment stated what substantially remains true today:
Thus, the [Judiciary] Committee observes that no significant legal barriers of any kind whatsoever exist today in the United States for a mother to obtain an abortion for any reason during any stage of her pregnancy.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Physician and Hospital Requirements: 38 states require an abortion to be performed by a licensed physician. 19 states require an abortion to be performed in a hospital after a specified point in the pregnancy, and 19 states require the involvement of a second physician after a specified point.
Gestational Limits: 38 states prohibit abortions, generally except when necessary to protect the woman’s life or health, after a specified point in pregnancy, most often fetal viability.
“Partial-Birth” Abortion: 16 states have laws in effect that prohibit “partial-birth” abortion. 4 of these laws apply only to postviability abortions.
Public Funding: 17 states use their own funds to pay for all or most medically necessary abortions for Medicaid enrollees in the state. 32 states prohibit the use of state funds except in those cases when federal funds are available: where the woman’s life is in danger or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. In defiance of federal requirements, South Dakota limits funding to cases of life endangerment only.
Coverage by Private Insurance: 4 states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans to cases in which the woman’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. Additional abortion coverage is permitted only if the woman purchases it at her own expense.
Refusal: 46 states allow individual health care providers to refuse to participate in an abortion. 43 states allow institutions to refuse to perform abortions, 16 of which limit refusal to private or religious institutions.
State-Mandated Counseling: 17 states mandate that women be given counseling before an abortion that includes information on at least one of the following: the purported link between abortion and breast cancer (6 states), the ability of a fetus to feel pain (9 states), long-term mental health consequences for the woman (7 states) or information on the availability of ultrasound (8 states).
Waiting Periods: 24 states require a woman seeking an abortion to wait a specified period of time, usually 24 hours, between when she receives counseling and the procedure is performed. 6 of these states have laws that effectively require the woman make two separate trips to the clinic to obtain the procedure.
Parental Involvement: 34 states require some type of parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. 22 states require one or both parents to consent to the procedure, while 10 require that one or both parents be notified and 4 states require both parental consent and notification.
In Washington State, 1st trimester abortions cost between $500 and $1000. Minors do not need parental consent or acknowledgement and husbands, or fathers of the child don’t have any rights. If you can’t afford an abortion the state will pay for it.
As you can see from our study last week, Scripture doesn’t tell us exactly when life begins. All we can do is examine the different theories and make up our minds on what we personally believe.
There are many theories to answer the question of when life begins. We will examine the five most widely accepted theories. Some I outright disagree with and I’ll certainly give you my opinion of all of them, but please take it as that, an opinion.
http://whenlifebegins.com/
Birth View
This view says that life begins at birth. I have to reject this theory because Scripture clearly talks about the unborn in language that describes them as individual human beings.
Ecological View - 25-27 weeks
Life begins when the fetus can survive outside the uterus.
Viability is generally determined by the sufficient maturation of the lungs. With modern medicine, a premature baby can breathe outside of the womb as early as 25 weeks after conception.
I have to reject this theory for the same reason I reject the Birth View. Scripture clearly talks about the unborn in language that describes them as individual human beings.
Neurological View - 6-24 weeks
Life begins when the brain produces measurable waves.
Death is marked by the loss of the pattern produced by a cerebral electroencephalogram (EEG). If life and death are based upon the same standard of measurement, then the beginning of human life would be recognized when a fetus acquires a recognizable EEG pattern. There is much disagreement about when this occurs.
I have to reject this theory because there are other signs of life that could be just as viable to measure and do occur potentially before the EEG is measurable. For example a fetus’s heart begins to beat at 18 days after conception.
Genetic View
Life begins at Conception.
Life begins when the sperm and the ovum are united.
During fertilization, the genes originating from two sources combine to form a single individual with a different and unique set of genes. This process takes up to 48 hours.
On the surface this theory is compelling. However it brings up a number of questions in my mind.
- When does the living being get a soul?
- What about spontaneous abortions?
If every conception accounts for a life and a soul, there are a great number of souls that never really even had a fully developed body.
I like the individual DNA argument but this theory leaves me with some confusing questions.
Embyrological View - 14 days
Life begins at gastrulation -- the point at which a developing embryo forms distinct layers that grow into different organs.
12-18 days after conception several things occur at approximately the same time.
- The embryo develops what is called the “primitive streak” which eventually turns into the brain and neurological system.
- At this point the embryo loses its ability to divide into identical twins (which says something about the conception / DNA argument).
- The embryo implants itself into the uterine wall.
- If the embryo does not implant, it dies.
- The embryo’s heart begins to beat.
Genesis 2:7
NIV
7the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed (5301) into his nostrils the breath (5937) of life (2416), and the man became a living being (soul-5315).
Here is what the specific words mean.
- Breathed 5301 – inflate, blow
- Breath 5937 – divine intellect, soul
- Life 2416 - alive
- Living 2416 – alive
- Soul – 5315 - most versions say "being", which is not in Strong’s for that verse. KJV says soul, which is in Strong’s for that verse.
7the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the soul of being alive, and the man became a living soul.
Leviticus 17:13-14
KJV
And whatsoever man 376 [there be] of the children 1121 of Israel 3478, or of the strangers 1616 that sojourn 1481 among 8432 you, which hunteth 6679 and catcheth 6718 any beast 2416 or fowl 5775 that may be eaten 398 ; he shall even pour 8210 out the blood 1818 thereof, and cover 3680 it with dust 6083.
For [it is] the life 5315 of all flesh 1320; the blood 1818 of it [is] for the life 5315 thereof: therefore I said 559 unto the children 1121 of Israel 3478, Ye shall eat 398 the blood 1818 of no manner of flesh 1320: for the life 5315 of all flesh 1320 [is] the blood 1818 thereof: whosoever eateth 398 it shall be cut off 3772 .
NIV
13" `Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, 14because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off."
Again, translating some of these words we get:
Life 5315 – soul
Blood - 1818
This translaates to "the soul is in the blood."
Genesis 9:4
NIV
4"But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
Translation here yields:
Blood – 1818
Life 5315 - soul
Ok, let’s try to tie this together.
If God breathed into Adam the soul of being alive, and he became a living soul. (He got his physical and spiritual life at the same time.)
AND
The soul, the life, the same two gifts given directly by God to Adam are “in the blood.”
THEN
It makes sense that we become living, soul filled beings at the point that we have blood, or our hearts begin to beat.
So this theory makes sense.
Let’s contrast the Genetic view with the Embryonic view over the remainder of the tough subjects.
Issue - Spontaneous Abortion
Genetic view comclusion: Life Lost, Soul to Paradise
Embryonic view conclusion: No impact as neither life or soul exists.
Issue - In Vitro Creation of Embryos
Genetic view conclusion: If they are not used they are killed (can’t say murder because they are allowed to die, not forced to die)
Embryonic view conclusion: No impact as neither life or soul exists.
Issue - Embryonic Atem Cell Research
Genetic view conclusion: It’s murder.
Embryonic view conclusion: No impact as neither life or soul exists.
Issue - Birth Control – IUD
Genetic view conclusion: It’s taking a life
Embryonic view conclusion: No impact as neither life or soul exists.
Birth Control – Morning After Pill
Genetic view conclusion: Depends, the pill will either, Prevent Ovulation, Prevent Conception, Prevent Implantation. It won’t harm an existing pregnancy. So there is no impact if conception hasn't occured, or it's taking a life if it has.
Embryonic view conclusion: No impact as neither life or soul exists.
These are two theories. I lean towards the embryonic view. Certainly the Genetic view is more conservative. You have to decide which view fits your Biblical World View the best. I encourage you to study deeper on this.
Next we will begin “issues of love,” the study of gay and lesbian rights and the definition of marriage.
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