Posted by
Doc Stephens on Tuesday, September 09, 2008 7:45:10 PM
The Sunday morning talk shows have been asking this question, lately. Both Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden have spoken to the issue and both were castigated for their answers by the heirarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. If this were a multiple choice question, you'd get an "A" if you chose "at conception" at least according to some unnamed biologists referenced by the media. Biden got it "right" but Pelosi equivocated. Both profess to be devout Catholics.
The fact is that life doesn't begin at conception and no one knows exactly when it did begin--billions of years ago on our planet. Life has been continuous for a very long and indeterminate time. What does begin at conception is an individual life that did not exist before that moment when two cells came together and fertilization occurred. But life doesn't "begin" at that point in time since the two lives that came together as a sperm and an egg were also very much alive. Two lives created one life--or they created two or more in the case of identical twins, quadruplets, etc.
It is wrong to say that life begins at conception.
It is right to say that a life begins at conception.
It is really more complicated than this because we, humans, are actually multiple individual lifeforms when you consider all of the microorganizisms that are a part of us and actually keep us alive, and us them. But that's another story.
It is wrong to call George W. Bush the 43rd President because he is only the 42nd president to serve in that office.
It is right to say that George W. Bush is currently serving in the 43rd presidency. Grover Cleveland served in two separte presidencies.
Language is often imprecise!