The most essential part of the abortion debate is when the life of the child begins. It is the core issue. If being alive holds any value, then this is the first place a debate about abortion should begin. If those opposing the practice of abortion can show when life begins, they can cut off almost all of the red herrings from the pro-choice side in one argument. Fortunately for those who oppose abortion, the science has been very clear in when life begins.
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Life Begins At Conception. But How Do We Know?
An article posted on the National Library of Medicine by Steven Andrew Jacobs called “The Scientific Consensus on When a Human’s Life Begins” states that a study was conducted of biologists from 1,058 academic institutions. Of these 5,577 biologists 96% of them affirmed the view that life begins at fertilization.
This is a fantastic source to cite, but the problem is that consensus does not equal fact. While scientific consensus can help us understand trends in research, consensus alone does not necessarily equate to the scientific fact.
The Scientific Proof Behind the Beginning of Life
So how could all of those biologists concluded that life indeed begins at fertilization? Let’s bring up three highly reputable sources. These three sources follow the gold standards of scientific publishing, expert review, and institutional credibility.
The most recent source called “The cell biology of fertilization: Gamete attachment and fusion” (Siu, Wong, & Evans), from 2021, is a peer-reviewed article published in The Journal of Cell Biology, and it confirms through detailed scientific explanation that at fertilization a human life begins. Here’s a quote from the article detailing it in highly scientific terms: “Fertilization is defined as the union of two gametes. During fertilization, sperm and egg fuse to form a diploid zygote to initiate prenatal development.”
This means that a genetically distinct human is created at the moment of fertilization. The diploid zygote has a complete set of chromosomes, 46 of them. Half of the chromosomes are from the mother, and the other half from the father, which marks the first biological stage in the life of a human being.
From this point forward, the zygote begins a genetically determined process of development, progressing through recognizable stages such as embryo, fetus, infant, and beyond. This article supports the consensus that human life biologically begins at fertilization, not at birth.
So what do we take from this article? At fertilization a new human life begins that is genetically unique. Let’s look at a older source from 1996.
The McGraw-Hill source by Carlson, Bruce M. Patten named “Foundations of Embryology, 6th edition, New York” states “The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual.” This clearly lays out the fact that life begins at fertilization, and we knew this in 1996. Sarah Terzo does a great job laying out several quotes from many reputable sources in her article titled “Science is clear: Each new human life begins at fertilization.” You can view this by clicking here.
The McGraw-Hill source by Carlson, Bruce M. Patten, titled Foundations of Embryology, 6th edition (New York, 1996), states: “The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual.” This clearly lays out the fact that life begins at fertilization, and we knew this in 1996. This quote, along with many others from leading embryology and developmental biology textbooks, is documented in the Alaska State Legislature’s compiled resource on the science of when life begins (Alaska State Legislature, 2013). Sarah Terzo does a great job collecting similar quotes in her article titled “Science is Clear: Each New Human Life Begins at Fertilization.”
Another article called “Totipotency: What It Is and What It Is Not,” by Maureen L Condic (2014), published in the journal Stem Cells and Development, notes that upon fertilization, the one-cell zygote is “capable of independently initiating a developmental sequence.” In other words, the zygote alone has the totipotency to generate an entire organism.
Totipotency just means that from the very moment that the egg is fertilized, the zygote has the inherent ability to create every single cell that is needed to form a complete human being.
It’s the perfect blueprint for life and it is fully equipped to build an entire new person from scratch, starting with just a single cell.
Possible Pro-Choice Arguments Against Conception And Their Answers
There are many pro-choice arguments against the claim that life begins at conception that you may encounter. This section will go through a few of them one by one.
Scientific Belief is Based On Evidence Not Consensus
This is a correct argument, and you should agree with whoever states this. The problem is, many pro-choice advocates use this to dispute the 96% statistic of biologists that life begins at conception, and think they have created a “gotcha” moment.
You can respond by saying that this statistic should be respected by not be regarded as proof, and then proceed laying out the evidence you have (like the evidence presented in this article), that life does indeed begin at conception.
Life Beginning At Conception Is Just A Religious Belief
There is a push from the religious community and there has been for many decades for being anti-abortion and affirming life. There are several Bible verses that clearly state that life begins in the womb. Here are a few:
Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Psalm 139:13-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Luke 1:39-45: This passage describes Mary’s visit to Elizabeth when John the Baptist is in Elizabeth’s womb. Elizabeth blesses “the fruit of your womb,” which implies that the unborn child (Jesus Christ) is recognized as a living, distinct individual.
Many pro-choice advocates despise the use of religion in the abortion debate, and while it is necessary to understand how philosophical and moral ways thinking should influence society, a simple answer to the claim that you just are anti-abortion because of your religion is by saying this: “My values and my beliefs on when life begins are based on the Biblical morality, but my position can be defended from purely a scientific argument.” This allows you to stay true to your Christian values while also grounding your stance in objective, evidence-based reasoning.
The Bottom Line
- 96% of biologists agree that life begins at conception (even though consensus does not equal fact)
- Life begins at conception (fertilization)
- At fertilization, a new, unique individual is created and the zygote has the ability to fully create that individual by itself
The conception argument is the true “slam dunk” to many pro-choice arguments, because it turns most of them into a red-herring argument. If it can be shown that life begins at conception, then arguments like a heartbeat determines life, experience determines life, the child will have a tough life, and many others are automatically void.