OPINION: Life from Conception to Birth

Fr Pascal Mwambi*
Altering Definition of Beginning of Life from Conception to Birth is a Denial of the Entire Process of Generation
The parliamentary select committee, which I believe is composed of experts from various related areas, cannot affirm that life starts at birth unless motivated by other selfish motives and anti- life mentality ready to destroy many lives before birth. Biologists, scientists and doctors should not be ashamed to affirm empirical facts about the process of new human organism right away from fertilization leading to the time the pro nucleus come close to each other exchanging the genetic information, thereby the reading and activation of the DNA.
After seven weeks (embryo stage), the new organism has all the organs formed awaiting gradual development. That unborn baby is not in potency but already life in act. There is no single moment we can say that he or she isn’t a human person. Even in cases where there is splitting or monozygotic twins, there are two or more lives so long as there was already a cell neither of the male nor female but of the fusion of both the sperm and ova. There is an autonomous and continuous growth of the baby together with a cross dialogue with the mother who should be the first “Advocatus ventrus” (advocate of the womb) to the child.
There is more to do in the debate than just about legalizing abortion. Once they (pro choice) manage to delay the recognition of a living human being, who is a person entitled to rights and dignity just as any other adult living being; then doors are open for all manipulations, research and experiments on the embryo.
With the precocious (premature) diagnosis of the pregnant women, any indications of abnormalities, hereditary, genetic, chromosomal pathologies will lead to eugenic or selective abortion so long as the unborn baby is not a living person juridically recognized. The same denial will lead to medically assisted ways of fertilization which will ignore or replace the conjugal act, therefore separation between sexual union and procreation.
Reasons that do not allow completion of pregnancy may include pre-mature births (miscarriages), abortions and deaths. The argument that not all conceptions lead to birth will be a more vibrant reality when they allow discrimination of the unborn children. They (doctors) will be the ones to procure abortions or encourage women do so. When it comes to rape cases, we agree it’s a regrettable crime. Sincerely looking at it, who is the aggressor? The conceived child-no, but the man involved. Nature just takes its cause which the so called experts are trying to ignore or deny by saying life starts at birth. Sometimes the figures of these cases of rape or clandestine abortions are exaggerated for the purpose of influencing the public. There are options which the church allows in such cases of rape. In order to avoid that the sperm of the aggressor causes more harm to the woman’s body, she can immediately seek medical attention within the first few hours in order to have a virginal bath before the male gamete meets the female one. The other option could be to use a STRICTLY non abortive contraceptive which unfortunately could be difficult to get nowadays.
We are still at the right track so long as the draft is not yet approved. We have all the power now to make sure that no unjust law, against its own citizens will be approved. Legalization of abortion has not reduced abortion cases (even clandestine ones) in countries where it’s applied. The bishops are conscious of the divine mandate to defend life. Any society, (civil or not), which cannot defend life from its start, is against its own existence.
The state needs to acknowledge the right to life but has no mandate to create or abolish it since it exists in the natural moral law. Any law which does not respect the equal dignity of every single person regardless of their capabilities, age, gender, health, (….) has no reason at all of being recognized. The very fact that there is a human person in the play we should be cautious about it. None of the universal declarations (1948), conventions of rights of the child (1989) or charters denies that life begins at conception. That is an undeniable fact which when approved, puts all science and biology in a dilemma of their own lie. Science gives us the facts, which they themselves want to deny. We are called to go beyond the facts and arrive at the intelligence (truth) which only human beings are endowed with, to realise that truth about our existence cannot be hidden.
There word “rights” quoted often by lobby groups is misleading. We never have a right to possess or not to possess a child since she/he is not a property. The medical practitioners have no right too, despite their expertise to eliminate any life. Their conscience will never be at peace just like that of a mother who decides to abort for whatever reason. The post abortion trauma will be deeper than the crime of rape or its wound. The life of an unborn child is equally worthy of the same dignity to that of the born child, even in terms of medical health dangers. It’s a matter of fundamental rights (life) are highest goods (health) where none of the two lives (mother and child) can be foregone. A person is an end in him/herself and can’t be disposed of for the sake of the other for whatever reason. Thus, killing a baby to save the mother’s life is unthinkable.
The shortage of doctors (doctor-patient ration) is an issue of concern so long as they do what is expected of them. A medical act will be such when it’s geared towards the integral good of the person (to cure) or restore health. Abortion is not and will never be a medical act, since its objective is exclusively to eliminate life of an innocent human being. No doctor should be prohibited from assisting mothers in need of help even after a spontaneous abortion since this has nothing to do with voluntary or procured abortions, illegally called therapeutic.
The sanitary reforms going on in the US have spurred protests recently. The president of the priests for life, Fr Frank Pavone is actively involved. One of the issues in the just ended demonstrations was that rich countries should stop using tax payers’ money to kill unborn human beings in the poor and developing countries. Our leaders should be ready to lose economic support from these donors rather than be pressurized to legalize abortion as a condition for aid.
I pray and hope that we will put our efforts together in defending, protecting and promoting life of our innocent brothers and sisters. It’s not a matter of just changing the clause in the draft but a matter of saving lives of future generations.
*Fr Pascal Mwambi, Rome