Life is continuous. It began with Adam and Eve and continues through each person throughout history until the end of time. Life does not begin at conception. Life is. A male sperm cell is alive until it dies of natural causes or is killed. The same is true for a female egg cell. Each cell is life. When the sperm cell fertilizes the egg, a new, separate life begins. At no time is there no life. A nonliving cell cannot create a living organism.
The sperm cell is part of the personhood of the male whose body produced it. It has potential to become another person, but until fertilization, it remains a live cell of the male, even when separated from the male through sexual functions. Likewise, the female egg remains part of the female’s personhood until fertilization, at which time its potential to become a new, separate life is realized. Both the male and the female have equal legal and moral rights to the reproductive cells their bodies produce. However, what happens to those cells and to those rights after conception ?
The abortion debate is inaccurately couched in terms of “when does life begin?” When in fact, the question is: When does personhood begin? Once the sperm cell fertilizes the egg cell, is the new cell, the zygote, a person with rights? That is the real question.
The zygote is an independent creature separate and distinct from the two persons whose cells resulted in fertilization. It can no longer be said to be the male’s cell nor the female’s cell. It is both and neither at the same time. Just as you and I bear the likeness of our parents, yet we are each distinct individuals. The cells that multiply and divide are all of one independent, organism. They do not at some point divide into something else. At the beginning, at conception, the zygote has the same cellular information that it will have when it is 90 years old. Other than developing into maturity, the new and distinct life is complete at conception. Nothing further needs to be added other than external factors that give life. Just as an infant, a child, an adolescent, and an adult need food, water, and protection from the elements to continue producing the cells necessary for sustaining its life, the zygote needs food, water and protection to continue producing the cells necessary for sustaining life. Only the external deprivation of any of these elements will cause the death of the individual, whether 1 day past conception, 365 days past conception, or 30 years past conception. Because the nature of the organism is to breath, eat, and grow, it is entitled to the right to breath, eat, and grow into maturity.
Therefore, personhood, and all the rights pertaining to personhood, begins at conception. The zygote has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as do all Americans. This right should not be subjugated to the choice of the female because she subjectively does not believe the zygote is alive. The zygote objectively is alive and its rights of personhood should not rest on any other person’s subjective decision.
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