Despite Barack Obama's "above my pay grade" remark, the point at which life begins is quite knowable, objective and obvious. Yuval Levin puts it this way,
But in fact, the question of when a new human life begins is not fundamentally a theological question but a biological question. After conception is concluded, a new biological organism exists that did not exist before -- a member of our species in every way, alive and human. That is when the life of that human being starts. That life will proceed in one continuous path until death, whether that comes days later in a lab dish, months later in a clinic, or decades later in a nursing home surrounded by children and grandchildren. Human life has a straightforward scientific definition, and its beginning in biological terms is complicated only by questions about the process of conception itself. When conception is completed and a developing embryo exists, a life has begun.So where does this leave us in the abortion debate or discussion about embryonic stem cell research? It indicates a fundamentally different view of the value of human life and reveals that there exist people groups that can be slaughtered without legal recourse. As Levin writes, the question is not when life begins, but whether every human life is equal. .
The ancillary question that must be answered is what is the basis for judging equality? For those of you who believe abortion is morally acceptable, why are the pre-born class of humans less valuable than those who have matured? What characteristic do they lack that should rob them of legal protection?
