Quote:
Quote by: Jack_Sparrow  The results of the poll state we think life starts at conception. Would it thus be fair to define life to start then? |
I've not read all the pages but Roger Bartlett toward the end lights me up.
Does human life start at conception? I've seen numbers suggesting that as high as 60% to 70% of concepti are spontaneously aborted or miscarried, some due to malformity, for others the reason is unclear. Also, the one-cell human zygote has been shown to have several developmental paths that we would not, in common usage, call human; the hydatiform mole, gestational choriocarcinoma, and scleroderma. Is this life? Certainly came from human, but the result is not recognizable and is not considered to be human life for legal and medical purposes.
My reluctant position is that these aberrations are human. This conclusion necessitates my thoughts as to some sort of value of the fetus, as cold as that may sound, that increases thru maturing gestation of the infant. Now as our instrumentation increasingly become adept at revealing of the fetus' health, further problems arise. Does a parent wish to bring a child into the misery of debilitating illness?
And so present law, and I think rightly so, increases the value of the fetus as it matures. The parent can image and by use of genetic sampling determine somewhat the health of the fetus. The informed parent if informed of, say, a condition of Cystic Fibrosis, has a choice. I would hope any Christian Church representative would support the use of such tests and the parents decision whether to terminate or not. It is only natural that the parents grieve for their creation of imperfection. More so if they are burdened with knowing they are the genetic carriers of disease. If the Church can help these parents deal with their self doubts by a doctrine or ritual, then I see the good in the Church and I am behind it. My beef is that being brought up by Catholic teachings, the guilt is more.
Systems using karmic and reincarnation concepts are also of use in these areas.