Bri sat staring at her clock. Seconds were slowly passing by as she held the pregnancy test in her hands, waiting for the result. “Just one more minute.” she thought. In the next minute, she would find out the result that would potentially change her life forever. A few seconds later, a little plus sign showed up on the stick in her hand. Her body went numb as thoughts of the future rushed through her mind. She called her boyfriend, broke the news, and almost immediately he hung up. “What now?” she questioned. She couldn’t have a baby at fifteen. She was only a child! Only three options stood before her. Parenthood, adoption, or abortion. Option three weighed heavily on her mind. For some people, especially teenagers, becoming pregnant is not an easy concept to take in. Most soon to be mothers are frightened by the fact that they will be carrying another life for the next nine months of their lives. But does being scared mean that it is a given right to take a life away? No matter the reason of the pregnancy, life is not for human hands to take away. Some people say, “I was raped” or “ This is a child of incest”. Though that child will be a constant reminder of a pain no one ever wants to remember, Deuteronomy 24:16 says, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin”. Throughout the pregnancy, God guarantees his protection over the mother and the child. Why then, if a greater power were protecting you, would you want to take away the potential life of the next generation? There are many beliefs about the moment life begins. Some say it is at the moment of conception. Others claim it is at the first breath of a newborn. But life actually begins to form two to five days after intercourse. The embryo is on its way to the uterus where it prepares for the new life form. About two weeks later, the egg and sperm unite creating a cell called a zygote. This zygote hold all the information for every genetic detail for the baby including color of the hair, color of the eyes, fingerprint details, even the height and skin tone. All these details are in this cell that is smaller than a grain of salt. By three weeks the embryo attaches to the lining of the uterus and is about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Week five shows signs of a functioning heart. Signs of the brain and every other organ are beginning to develop. Around week six, only four weeks after fertilization, the basic structure of the baby’s nervous system has shaped. The little black specks and nubs are the eyes and ligaments beginning to form. An ultrasound will show that the heart is already beating at a rate of eighty times a minute. The baby starts generating its own blood at seven weeks and depending on the gender, signs of testicles or ovaries start to develop. The lungs, taste buds on the tongue, eyelids and jaw begin to form at week eight. If this doesn’t sound like a human then what does? Between weeks nine and fourteen, the baby has graduated from an embryo to a fetus. The fetus has now developed ears, a nose, bones, eggs and testosterone begin to produce, and it can suck its thumb, yawn and urinate. At week sixteen, the gender of the baby can now be seen. From week twenty to week thirty-four, the baby is still developing. It recognizes light, sound, and responds to its mother’s voice. Rapid eye movements also show the ability for the baby to dream. By week forty the baby is fully developed and the baby is ready to be born. (Dihle, The First 9 Months, 2010 Focus on the Family) With all this information on the process of development, how is it that even at week five, when the baby has a brain and a heart, a mother would want to take that away? It is baffling to know that many people do not understand the rapid development of a baby. Maybe if a pregnant woman knew more, she would think twice about the choice she was about to make. There are so many
disease, spinal cord injuries, heart disease, arthritis, and more. However as positive as it might be, the practice of Embryonic Stem Cell Research (ESCR) is morally wrong for many reasons. It involves the complete destruction of a human embryo. Human embryos are considered to be alive with the occurrence of one-cell zygote at fertilization. It is at this stage of life when they are considered “living members of the species homo sapiens” . Also, critics of the practice agree that its forging the…
the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures” {The Five Precepts #1} Stem cell research is considered to be morally impermissible since it destructs human life through the removal of an embryo which has been conceived. Embryonic – New being bears the Karmic identity {against} “the human embryo has spiritual value and, therefore, must be protected.” {Lillian Forman, Author of “Stem Cell Research”} The Karmic identity is the totality of a person’s actions and conduct during successive incarnations…
chemotherapy followed by a stem-cell transplant. Like most religious Americans, the Lindsey family opposed the stem-cell transplant. ”How could we participate in something that resulted from the killing of embryos, preborn babies? “ Little did they know, there were other ways to extract stem cells without killing the embryo. In Don’s case they would use his adult stem cells. His stems cells would be harvested, frozen then put back into his body after his chemotherapy. Upon finding this out, the Lindsey family…
abortion. This episode describes the unethical procedures of abortion and portrays it through humor and over-exaggeration by personifying the fertilized egg. There is no doubt that all the characters that appear in the show agree that the procedures of killing babies are horrifying and unethical. I partially agree with Peter when he explains one should avoid abortion but there are some cases in needs of abortion, and I believe there should be some restrictions for abortion and a high quality of sex education…
Embryonic Stem Cell Research Embryonic stem cell research dose it saves lives? Or killing new life? Some say it is murder, others say it is not because the embryo is not a living human being until it reaches eight weeks of fertilization. Is it immoral to allow the further destruction of embryos to be used to save one life yet kill another? Embryonic stem cell research is when scientists suck the entire stem cell from the embryo, terminating and using the stem cell it, to help fight disease like Bone- marrow…
cloning. This method is quite complex compared to creation from an embryo because it takes a much longer process. First of all an egg and the nucleus of a blood cell are required. You extract the nucleus of the egg, which contains all it’s DNA, using a very thin needle and electrically fuse the nucleus of the blood cell with the enucleated egg. Once this is done, the pre-embryo will begin to divide and form stem cells, however this embryo will not be placed in a woman’s womb to form a pregnancy. Because…
her own force must be proportional to the force used against her. Thus,a person can only use lethal force when it is necessary to defend against an unlawful, lethal force. This means that a non-life-saving abortion is unlawful lethal force if the embryo or fetus is a person but due to scientific fact a fetus is not a person, enforcing the idea that abortion does not fit within traditional legal definitions of self defense Another prime example to illustrate the mortality and accused criminal…
taken at the embryonic stage. This means a potential fetus being killed in order for doctors to get the stem cells (Newton 6.) In other words it is similar to an abortion and this is why it is such a hot topic in medicine right now. How do you weigh killing of a fetus, a potential person, versus using the stem cells to save peoples lives that have terrible diseases, which are incurable any other way? The idea of using stem cells from the human body came from the fact that there are many animals that…
research has potential to uncover cures to diseases, as well as minor medical remedies and advances. On the other hand, the use of embryos in this research disobeys many religions and is considerably immoral. Stem cell research is a new advancement in the study of the life and development of cells. Scientist are extracting, growing, and trying to recreate stem cells from embryos taken from human egg fertilization. Particularly, they are using these cells to study how they recreate, change, and develop…
Antonia Bravo Philosophy 112 Phase 1 11/02/2014 Taboo of Abortion: Who is right? The life of an embryo depends on differences in societies and cultures, along with morals and beliefs. However, these alone cannot prove when an embryo is actually a person. With a mixture of all, people determine how and when an embryo develops into a human being. Although the variety provides different insights, it also cause controversy amongst opponents. Thus the birth of pro-choice and pro-life is born, both competing…