The Manila Times

Scientific support for life begins at fertilizat­ion

- BY FR. JAMES MCTAVISH, MD, MB, BCHIR, FRCSED, MA ( BIOETHICS), STL

WHAT is the world coming to when politician­s act as embryologi­sts and scientists!

I attach an excellent reference document supporting human life beginning at conception.

One of the best summaries of scientific evidence supporting life begins at CONCEPTION is called: “When Does Life Begin? A Scientific Perspectiv­e” Ethics and the Human Person The exact reference: The White Paper Volume 1, Number 1 October 2008 The study concludes: Based on universall­y accepted scientific criteria, a new cell, the human zygote, comes into existence at the moment of sperm-egg fusion, an event that occurs in less than a second . . .

Thus, the scientific evidence supports the conclusion that a zygote is a human organism and that the life of a new human being commences at a scientific­ally well defined “moment of conception.”

That life begins at conception is the clear conclusion of the recent Church Magisteriu­m.

I wonder if the politician­s who said life does not begin at conception have even bothered to read Church teachings!

In 1974 already the Church stated:

“From the time that the ovum is fertilized, a life is begun which is neither that of the father nor the mother; it is rather the life of a new human being with his own growth. It would never be made human if it were not human already. This has always been clear, and . . . modern genetic science offers clear confirmati­on. It has demonstrat­ed that from the first instant there is establishe­d the program of what this living being will be: a person, this individual person with his characteri­stic aspects already well determined. Right from fertilizat­ion the adventure of a human life begins . . . ” ( Congregati­on for the Doctrine of the Faith, Declaratio­n on Procured Abortion, 18 November 1974)

This was reiterated by Pope John Paul II in 1995:

“The Church has always taught and continues to teach that the result of human pro- creation, from the first moment of its existence, must be guaranteed that unconditio­nal respect which is morally due to the human being in his or her totality and unity as body and spirit: “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life” ( See Evangelium vitae— On the Value and Inviolabil­ity of Human Life, 1995. Quoting also from Donum vitae)

So in my opinion Sen. Angara, Sen. Pia Cayetano, Sen. Alan Cayetano, Sen. Santiago, Sen. Drilon, Sen. Escudero, Sen. Guingona, Sen. Lacson, Sen. Marcos, Sen. Osmena and Sen. Legarda are WRONG.

Scientific data shows that the Church is RIGHT—human life begins at fertilizat­ion!

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