Understanding the stakes

Stephen Frezza, Ph.D., C.S.D.P.

Gannon University

Human Life

Start of Life• Abortion Contraception

• Artificial Insemination

End of Life• Genocide Ethnic Cleansing

• Death Penalty Assisted Suicide

Life is transferred…

Conception: moment • when a sperm cell breaches

the ovum, or egg; zygote

• Initial stage of development

for human growth

• Genetically distinct from

mother and father

Days after Last Menstrual Period• 18-21: the heart beats

• 32: eyes are formed

• 38: upper lip formed

• 40: brain waves are measurable

• 44: arms and legs formed

• 48: beginnings of all internal structures present; child moves

• 56: embryo now called a fetus

• 63: sucking thumb, teeth forming

• 84-160: cries, feels pain

13 to less than 28 weeks• 13 - 3 in. & ½ oz., reflexes active

• 14 - fingerprints present

• 15 - grasp, grimace, frown, squint

• 16 - 6 in. & 6 oz., somersaults, mother feels movement

• 17 - hiccups, plays with umbilical cord

• 18 - hair and eyebrows growing

• 20 - recognizes mother’s voice

• 22 - responds to stories, music

• 24 - 1 lb., 85% survival rate

• 26 - responds to light, 1.5 to 2 lbs.

28 weeks to Delivery

• 28 - 2 lbs. & practicing

breathing

• 30 - growing rapidly, sleeps

90% of the time, has dreams

• 32 - urinates, 4 lbs.

• 34 - 5 lbs. 19.5 in, head into

pelvis

• 36 - 99% survival

• 38 - 1,000 times original size

• 40 - Birth - 7.5 lbs average

weight.

“The transmission of human life is a most

serious role in which married people

collaborate freely and responsibly with God

the Creator. It has always been a source of

great joy to them, even though it sometimes

entails many difficulties and hardships.”

Pope Paul VI

Why do we care?• Religious Reasons

• Personal Reasons

• Political Reasons

• Social Reasons

Who’s a Human Anyway?• Where we are?

• When we are?

• Genetics?

• How to distinguish?

• Who should decide?

“We no longer agree about the content of

dignity, because we no longer share ... a

'vision of what it means to be human'."

Diana Schaub, Political Scientist

Because one is human

Status mode

Comes with being a human

being

Depends on the circumstances

Conferred by others and can be taken away

Depends on what one can or cannot do

Comes with being able

to perform in a certain

way and not to perform

in other ways

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that

all men are created equal, that they are

endowed by their Creator with certain

unalienable Rights, that among these are

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Human life begins at conception• Unless… We don’t believe…

• Most science…

• Most religions…

Civil Right• The right to be born

Challenges:• Contraception

• Abortion

• In Vitro Fertilization

Abortion is the #1 moral issue of our time.

It has impacted and will impact your life in

one way or another – family, friends,

acquaintances.• Millions of people – 43% of US Women

• Economy

Inalienable rights• Life

• Liberty

• Pursuit of happiness = property

Rights in Conflict• Mother’s liberty versus

the child’s life

How to resolve rights conflicts?

Is it [birth control] an abortion?

Definitely not. An abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health. It may make you sterile so that when you want a child you cannot have it. Birth control merely postpones the beginning of life.

Planned Parenthood Advertisement1964

Children are a gift (Ps. 128)

Each person is made in God’s image (Gen. 1:27)

‘Yeled’ - the Hebrew word for one borne or born – the unborn

Job the same person before he was born (Job 10:8-12)

Jeremiah - known in the womb (Jer. 1:5)

• The Greek – βρεϕος (Brěphŏs) Preborn John recognizes

Jesus shortly after his conception (Luke 1:41)

• Child sacrifice is condemned (Lev. 18:21, 20:1-5, Dt.

12:31)

• Punishment for

someone who causes

a miscarriage

intentionally (Ex.

21:22-25)

“The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion consequently, cannot be a human right – it is the very opposite. It is a deep wound in society.”

Pope Benedict XVI

“And if we accept that a

mother can kill even her

own child, how can

we tell other people not to

kill one another?”

Blessed Mother Teresa of

Calcutta

Sterilization• Vasectomy & tubal ligation

Intra-Uterine Device (IUD)

Hormonal Contraceptives• Oral Pills, patches, vaginal rings, injections

Barrier Methods• Condoms, Diaphragms contraceptive sponge

Natural Family Planning

Government policies which attempt to force

people to undergo surgical sterilization

Eugenic, Social, Punitive reasons; International

funding

South Africa

Canada

United States

Nazi Germany

China

India

Peru

Russia

Sweden

Puerto Rico

Moral Evil• Deliberate violation of the design God built into the

human race (Natural Law)

• Contrary to Scripture (Gen. 38:8–10), Apostolic

Tradition, Early Reformers, Church teaching

Catholic Moral Teaching• Humane Vitae 1968

Illegal under Obama Care

Infidelity and moral decline

Lost Respect for Women

Abuse of Power

Unlimited Dominion

“I would now like to say a special word to women

who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of

the many factors which may have influenced your

decision, and she does not doubt that in many

cases it was a painful and even shattering decision.

The wound in your heart may not yet have healed.

Certainly what happened was and remains terribly

wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do

not lose hope. ”

Pope John Paul II

Process by which an egg is fertilized by

sperm outside the body

Used most for pregnancy for:• Impotent male, using donor sperm

• Women with cervical issues

• Single woman without a male partner (sperm

donor)

• Female couples (sperm donor)

• Male couples (egg donor and surrogate mother)

Human life ends at natural death• Unless… We kill

Civil Right• The right to … die?

Challenges:• Genocide/Ethnic Cleansing

• Assisted Suicide

• Death Penalty

Armenia: 1,000,000 killed 1915-1923

China (Mao): 58,000,000 killed 1949-1969

USSR (Stalin): 20,000,000 killed 1932-1939

Holocaust: 5,700,000 killed 1933-1945

Khmer Rouge: 1,600,000 killed 1975-1978

Bosnia: 250,000 killed 1992-1995

Rwanda: 1,000,000 killed 1994

Somalia: 300,000 killed 1991-present

Darfur: ≥450,000 killed 2003-present

Systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious

groups from a given territory

Intent of creating a territory inhabited by people

of a homogeneous or pure ethnicity, religion,

culture, and history

Euthanasia • direct killing of a person, usually by injecting a

lethal substance

• legal in the Netherlands (no consent) legal in

Belgium and Luxembourg

Assisted suicide • one person providing the means and instructions

to help another person commit suicide

Executions are expensive• California spent ≥$4 billion on capital punishment since 1978

• Capital trials are 20 times more expensive

Capital punishment does not deter crime

Innocent people convicted and executed• Since 1978, 142 men and women have been released from

Death Row

Race plays a role in determining who dies• 82% of cases, race of the victim was found to influence the

likelihood of receiving the death penalty

The death penalty is applied at random. • 22,000 capital crimes ~100 people sentenced to death

Goes against many religions