There was a time when the discoveries of science were seen as the glorious affirmation of God’s plan. As the secrets of chemistry, physics, biology, anatomy, astronomy, and other sciences were revealed, so was the complexity of our existence.
How could such an intricate system of life exist, if not for the presence and plan of God? Clearly, it was thought, this could not be a random act, a universe created by nothing from nothing. All that science discovered became proof of the very existence, the wonder, the glory of God.
And so the Church was not afraid of science but embraced it. And I am primarily referring to the Christian church in all of its many manifestations, but this likely applies to Judaism and Islam as well.
Nowhere is this fear and denial of science by religion so apparent as it is right now with the discussion of abortion.
The belief held by many that life begins at conception is sort of true, but not in the way that the people who hold this belief believe it to be true. The explanation of the development of a human life as revealed by science does not support the conclusion of pro-life advocates.
If it is true that human life consists of a physical body and a spiritual soul, then it stands to reason that having one but not the other does not constitute a human life. A spiritual soul must join with a physical body to create a human life.
A fetus developing in a mother’s womb is the physical body, following God’s plan as it grows from a single cell into a fully formed vessel, ready to receive a spiritual soul.
Not every fetus develops according to God’s plan. God himself in his divine wisdom determines that some fetuses will not be able to fully join with a spiritual soul, which is why we have miscarriages and stillborn births. These are sad events to those who experience them, and the explanation that this is God’s will, true as it is, does not eliminate the sadness or the memories.
For some women who become pregnant, there are other reasons to end a pregnancy before the physical vessel develops to the point of being able to join with a spiritual soul. We all know the reasons, from rape to incest to poverty to bad timing to bad partners, but also the discovery that a fetus may have issues that would result in a child being born that would be unable to realize a full human life as intended by God.
It is understandable that some people have a deeply held belief that any abortion is murder of a human being. “Thou shalt not kill” is a fundamental belief and law of virtually all societies, and one that we share in this country.
It is also understandable that some women find themselves pregnant without plan or family or means to raise a child, and to force these women to have a child under such circumstances seems cruel and without compassion or empathy.
Fortunately, science has shown us an answer that respects human life and at the time time provides women time to make a choice.
The current thinking right now is that the presence of a heartbeat signifies the beginning of a human life. Having a measurable means to mark the beginning of a human life certainly makes it easier for some to define the moment at which abortion becomes murder and a woman becomes a criminal for whom prison is insufficient punishment for her crime.
The problem is that science does not support the presence of a heartbeat as the defining moment at which human life begins.
As science has shown, and has shown for decades, the presence of active brainwave activity signifies the presence of something significant, and I would consider this to be the presence of the spiritual soul within its physical vessel.
The physical vessel may feel physical pain, but it is the spiritual soul that feels emotional pain, as well as having the capacity to feel love. It is the spiritual soul that recognizes the glory of God.
I am not a legal scholar, and I do not know upon what legal basis the end of the second trimester was determined to be the limit of a woman’s constitutional right to choose.
However, my understanding is that active brainwave activity begins to be detected in a developing fetus at around six months, which happens to correspond to the end of the second trimester.
This seems to provide irrefutable evidence that the spiritual soul joins with the developing physical vessel at around the end of the second trimester.
This is when a human life really begins – certainly not at conception or soon thereafter.
As a cautionary comment – any woman who waits until the third trimester to choose to have an abortion does so at their spiritual peril, and the position that their unborn child is not a human being becomes untenable. There needs to be a limit to pro-choice to preserve and recognize our humanity.
All this hate, all this division, all the protests, the intimidation, the violence, the punitive laws – it is all pointless when God and science have shown us the truth, and the way.