Pro-life Arguments

2. Pro-life Arguments • Moral Arguments • Scientific Arguments • Legal Arguments

3. Moral Arguments • Pro-choice argument #1 • “My body my choice”

4. Moral Arguments • This is argument cannot justify abortion because of the following reasons • 1. The baby is not truly a “part” of the mother’s body because he/she has their own unique and distinct DNA, whereas any other part of the mother’s body would have to have her DNA for her to have any right to do anything to it. • The baby is clearly a distinct and separate being from the mother. The mother is merely entrusted with the care of the baby’s health and growth, but has no right to make life and death decisions for the baby.

5. Moral Arguments • Pro-choice argument #2 • “We don’t know or we can’t prove when human life begins, therefore abortion is permissible.”

6. Moral Arguments • Exactly, which is why abortion cannot be justified. Even if we don’t know when human life begins, we at least know that an unborn baby has human DNA at the moment of conception, and therefore there is evidence that there MAY be a human life at stake

7. Moral Arguments • If this is indeed true then all abortions should at the very least be suspended until we know with 100% certainty that the baby that is being aborted is not a human person. • Man/Coat Analogy

8. Moral Arguments • This knowledge is extremely important because if the baby is found to be a human person then their right to life trumps any “right to privacy” that the mother may claim to have over her child. • Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness.

9. Moral Arguments • Pro-choice Argument #3 • “It’s better to abort “unwanted” children so every child is a “wanted” child • It’s ok to abort unborn babies because they are not “worth” as much and don’t contribute to society.

10. Moral Arguments • For starters there is already a long waiting list of parents who want to adopt “unwanted” children, even children who are terminally ill. • Also, everyone has the same right to life no matter who they are. Even though some people may not CONTRIBUTE as much to society, everyone is still WORTH the same.

11. Moral Arguments • We can look into the past for examples of what happens when one group of people decide another person or group of people are not “worth” as much as everyone else. • Nazi Germany • Slavery in the United States

12. Moral Arguments • Also, by the same logic, if we can arbitrarily assign value to people based on their contributions to society, murdering 5 school children would be less wrong than murdering 5 doctors because the children are “worth less” because they don’t contribute as much to society. • This is obviously not true which is why this Pro-choice argument doesn’t work or make any sense

13. Moral Arguments • Pro-choice Argument #4 • Abortion is ok because Society and the Law says it’s ok and legal.

14. Moral Arguments • Society at one point once said that slavery was ok and acceptable, and this was supported by our own laws. • The same situation occurred in Nazi Germany. Laws were created which made it legal to dehumanize and kill Jews. • Simply because a law or society says something is acceptable doesn’t mean that it is right or true

15. Moral Arguments • One of the most interesting things to note in the abortion debate are people’s aversion to seeing pictures of aborted babies. • To this we have to ask: Why is it so bad to show these pictures and why don’t people especially those who are pro-choice have a problem with seeing them. After all, if the baby isn’t a human being or a person then their shouldn’t be a problem with showing them to people, yet people resist seeing it at all costs.

16. Moral Arguments • Also, at about 4,000 a day, abortions are the most common surgical procedure in the US. Why won’t news stations like MSNBC, or CNN show this procedure which is so common? • Once again, why the aversion to it if the baby that is being aborted is really not a human person?

17. Moral Arguments • What about cases of Rape and Incest?

18. Moral Arguments • “I am personally opposed but…” • What are you personally opposed to?

19. Legal Arguments • Pro-choice Argument #1 • “The Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade upheld a Woman’s Fundamental Right to have an abortion”

20. Legal Arguments • The US Constitution nowhere states that there is a fundamental right to abortion. In fact the Preamble of the Constitution contradicts the idea of abortion • “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” --- Preamble to the US Constitution. • Also, the Supreme Court has made erroneous rulings before such as in the Dred Scott case where they said that “a black man has no rights that a white man need worry about” • Also, the Supreme Court ruling that allowed segregation in schools as long as “separate was equal” this ruling was later overruled.

21. Legal Arguments • Pro-Choice Argument #2 • “There is no legal precedent for overturning Roe vs Wade”

22. Legal Arguments • There was no legal precedent for Roe vs Wade to have happened in the first place. • Just because there may or may not be legal precedence for an issue doesn’t mean it should be allowed to happen. Legal precedent is by no means infallible. • Or else, by that same logic, we could bring back slavery because there is “legal precedence” for it in the Dred Scott ruling.

23. Legal Arguments • Pro-choice argument #3 • “The government has no right to tell me what I can do in the privacy of my own bedroom”

24. Legal Arguments • This is argument is obviously a false one because • If that logic is true than killing someone in the “privacy” of your home is ok because the government has no right to interfere in “individual’s private affairs” and “can’t tell you what to do in the privacy of your bedroom”

25. Legal Arguments • Also, whenever the lives of a country’s citizens are in jeopardy the government not only has the right but the duty to step in and protect it’s citizens no matter what the prevailing public opinion of the time is • This is after all the fundamental role of the government: to first and foremost protect the lives of its citizens.

26. Legal Arguments • "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 an answer." Supreme Court Ruling in Roe vs Wade. • One of the most disturbing and dangerous things about this passage is that the Supreme Court never decided when life begins. • This legally and technically means that anyone in the US “may not be alive” according to some arbitrary standard made by the Supreme Court

27. Legal Arguments • “The burden of proof in law is on the prosecution. The benefit of doubt is with the defense. This is also known as a presumption of innocence. The defendant is assumed to be innocent unless proven guilty. Again the burden of proof is on the entity that would take away life or liberty. The benefit of the doubt lies with the defense. • “The Supreme Court clearly stated that it does not know when life begins and then violated the very spirit of this legal principle by acting as if it just proved that no life existed in the womb.”

28. Legal Arguments • “The decision also seems unpretentious by acknowledging that it did not know when life begins. But if the Court did not know, then it should have acted "as if" life was in the womb. A crucial role of government is to protect life. Government cannot remove a segment of the human population from its protection without adequate justification.” • “The burden of proof should lie with the life-taker, and the benefit of the doubt should be with the life-saver. Put another way: "when in doubt, don't." A hunter who hears rustling in the bushes shouldn't fire until he knows what is in the bushes. Likewise, a Court which doesn't know when life begins, should not declare open season on the unborn.” ---Kerby Anderson

29. Legal Arguments • Another way in which the legalization of abortion makes no sense is in the laws of several states regarding pregnant women and their unborn children. • An example of this is Laci Peterson who was killed along with her unborn son and her husband was charged with both of their murders.

30. Legal Arguments • The reason this is significant is because the baby in this instance is being treated as a “human” and a “person” because the baby was “wanted”. • However, it would have been perfectly legal for Laci to have had an abortion and no murder charges could have been filed because in the case of an abortion the baby is “unwanted”

31. Legal Arguments • So the baby is treated as a human person when he/she is wanted as is treated as a non-person and non-human when the mother does not “want” them. • In order for this to make legal sense when the mother makes the decision to have an abortion rather than keep her child, the child’s DNA and personhood must magically change from person and human to non-person and non-human as soon as the mother makes that decision. And it can change back and forth as much as the mother wants depending on whether she “wants” the child or not

32. Scientific Arguments • Pro-Choice Argument: • “The unborn baby is just a “fetus” or “cluster of cells” and is not really a human so abortion is scientifically permissible.

33. Scientific Arguments • This argument is incorrect because we know that at the moment of conception a new life with totally different and unique DNA is created • Unborn children are simply humans in the fetal stage of development, similar to how an infant is considered a human person in the infant stage of development • This makes them no more or less human then you or me

34. Scientific Arguments • There is no fundamental difference between a 3 month year old unborn baby and an 80 year old man. • The only difference is time and level of development which doesn’t add or take away from a person’s “humanity”

35. Scientific Arguments • What some leading doctors and researchers have to say about when life begins.

36. Scientific Arguments • The late Dr. Jerome LeJeune, Professor of Genetics at the University of Descartes in Paris, and discoverer of the genetic cause of Down Syndrome said, "After fertilization has taken place and a new human being has come into being.  It's no longer a matter of taste or opinion, and not a meta-physical condition, it is plain experimental evidence." 5 • Professor Micheline Matthews-Roth, Harvard University Medical School:  It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive...It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception." 6 • Professor Hymie Gordon, Mayo clinic:  "By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception." 7

37. Scientific Arguments • Dr. Bradley M. Patten's textbook, Human Embryology, states, " It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatazoan and the resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that...marks the initiation of the life of a new individual." 1 • Dr. Louis Fridhandler in the medical textbook Biology of Gestation, refers to fertilization as "that wondrous moment that marks the beginning of life for a new individual." 2 • Time and Rand McNally's Atlas of the Body states, "In fusing together, the male and female gametes produce a fertilized single cell, the zygote, whch is the start of a new individual." 3 • Encyclopedia Britannica, says, "A new individual is created when the elements of a potent sperm merge with those of a fertile ovum, or egg." 4

38. Sources • http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.preamble.html • http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/arg-abor.html • http://www.modestopolice.com/laci/

39. Sources • http://www.wpclinic.org/parenting/fetal-development/first-trimester/ • http://www.goodsearch.com/Image.aspx?imgurl=http://www.praize.com/teens/jesusfreak1p211/7weeks.jpg&thurl=http://sp1.mm-a1.yimg.com/image/2000604309&rurl=http://www.praize.com/teens/jesusfreak1p211/baby_pics.shtml&tt=716&no=1&name=7weeks.jpg&w=300&h=485&size=83.3&type=jpeg • http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/understanding-conception • http://youtube.com/watch?v=O2l1-kvKomg • Goodsearch.com • http://www.nebcathcon.org/Proof%20of%20Life.htm#Reveal

40. Suggested Readings • Three Approaches to Abortion by Peter Kreeft • The Apple Argument Against Abortion by Peter Kreeft http://www.priestsforlife.org/articles/appleargument.htm • Ending Abortion by Fr. Frank Pavone • The Grand Illusion by George Grant

41. Questions/Comments?

43. Stem Cell Research • What is a Stem Cell? A stem cell is essentially a “blank” cell, capable of becoming another more differentiated cell type in the body, such as a skin cell, a muscle cell, or a nerve cell. Microscopic in size, stem cells are big news in medical and science circles because they can be used to replace or even heal damaged tissues and cells in the body. They can serve as a built-in repair system for the human body, replenishing other cells as long as a person is still alive.

44. Stem Cell Research • There are two basic types of stem cells used in research • These are embryonic and adult stem cells

45. Stem Cell Research • In both cases the point of researching stem cells is to help find cures or treatments for different diseases • Stem cells do this by being manipulated by researchers to create the types of cells a patient in a particular type treatment might need.

46. Stem Cell Research • There are significant medical and scientific differences between embryonic and adult stem cell research and therapy. Here is a comparison between the two types, including some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.

47. Stem Cell Research • Adult Stem Cell Advantages1. Special adult-type stem cells from bone marrow and from umbilical cord have been isolated recently which appear to be as flexible as the embryonic type • 2. Already somewhat specialized—inducement may be simpler • 3. Not immunogenic—recipients who receive the products of their own stem cells will not experience immune rejection • 4. Relative ease of procurement—some adult stem cells are easy to harvest (skin, muscle, marrow, fat), while others may be more difficult to obtain (brain stem cells). Umbilical and placental stem cells are likely to be readily available • 5. Non-tumorigenic—tend not to form tumors • 6. No harm done to the donor

48. Stem Cell Research • Adult stem cells are a “natural” solution. They naturally exist in our bodies, and they provide a natural repair mechanism for many tissues of our bodies. They belong in the microenvironment of an adult body, while embryonic stem cells belong in the microenvironment of the early embryo, not in an adult body, where they tend to cause tumors and immune system reactions.

49. Stem Cell Research • Most importantly, adult stem cells have already been successfully used in human therapies for many years. As of this moment, NO therapies in humans have ever been successfully carried out using embryonic stem cells. New therapies using adult type stem cells, on the other hand, are being developed all the time.

50. Stem Cell Research • Adult Stem Cell Disadvantages 1. Limited quantity—can sometimes be difficult to obtain in large numbers • 2. Finite—may not live as long as ES cells in culture • 3. Less flexible (with the exception of #1 above)—may be more difficult to reprogram to form other tissue types