When does life begin
When does life beginBy: Sara Swanson
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Three Perspectives on When Life Begins Introduction Subject: Where does life begin? That is the age-old question. The decision that legalized the right to an abortion in all 50 states and sparked a political debate that remains charged to this day. Topic: Many questions surround abortion. What really makes someone human? Sub Topics: a) Some suggest life begins when the soul is created. b) Others advocate it is when the child is capable of giving and receiving love. c) Some suggest that life begins at conception. In this paper I will argue the validity of each of these issues. Body Topic A: Some have tried to find an answer in a religious belief, such as suggesting that human life begins when the soul is created. Others object that such answers cannot be used as a basis for law, because that would be a violation of separation of church and state. . There is a far bigger problem with such a definition of life. In the essay, �When Does Life Begin?,� Jay Johansen says, ��the soul definition, this one may be philosophically interesting but is of little practical use, as it is not at all clear how we could determine when someone first becomes conscious�. The author means that no one knows when the soul is created, and it is difficult to see how we could find out. If someday, someone invented some Sara Swanson kind of machine that could detect and measure a soul, this might become a useful definition. Until then, it can only be a subject for speculation. Topic B: Or consider human life begins when one is capable of giving and receiving love. Dr Schwarz argues, �Imagine a case of two children. One is born comatose and he will remain so until the age of nine. The other is healthy at birth, but as soon as she achieves the concept of a continuing self for a brief time, she too lapses into a coma from which she will not emerge until she is nine. Can anyone seriously hold that the second child is a person with a right to life, while the first child is not?� The argument gives support to the fact that because the first child cannot perform the act of love that does not make him inhuman. There are many unloved people in the world: refugees, the homeless, and minorities. Would you say that because these people have suffered misfortune or oppression, that that makes them no longer human, and no longer entitled to human rights? Suppose a man was accused of murdering his wife, and in court he admitted that he had done it. He explained that he didn't love her anymore. He figured that as she was unloved, she was useless and had no right to live. If you were the judge, would you accept such a defense? It is surely a tragedy if a person is unloved and unwanted, but that does...
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