Letter: When does life really begin? It begins at conception
Published: June 24, 2009
When does life really begin? It begins at conception
As a woman, I cherish the fact that my body can carry and sustain another human life. It is a wonderful and remarkable gift of womanhood. I have never taken that gift for granted.
During my third trimester of pregnancy, my daughter was almost fully formed.
She was a tiny life that was growing and thriving daily. She had a brain, a heartbeat, hands, eyes and every other part that makes a human a viable person.
We were fortunate that we had a healthy baby girl.
Had the path taken a different turn, had our baby suffered birth defects, my story would still have the same ending. I would have carried and loved the child regardless.
If my child had a terrible birth defect and wouldn’t live more than a few hours, I would have to leave it up to God and enjoy those short hours I was given with my baby.
If there happened to be some dramatic health risk to the pregnant mother, I can only speak for myself. Yes, I would risk my life to have my child.
There are too many intricacies of the creation of life to believe it is accidental.
There are so many details that are so well crafted by the Creator.
There are so many things that happen at just the right time to begin life.
How can one sit back and say unborn babies are disposable? They are alive and growing inside their mother. An unborn baby has as much of a right to life as anyone else.
Why is it so hard to define when life begins?
That’s the easiest question to answer in my book. Life begins at conception.
Rhiannon Dupree
Opelika
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Reader Reactions
Thank you again Captain Plaid for your well thought out and rational analysis of this debate. Keep up the good work!
I appreciated of Ms. Dupree’s sharing “I can only speak for myself.“ She also referenced the third trimester. Our law also requires special considerations as the fetus becomes viable.
I do, however, submit that if a mother understood this still unborn child with defects might suffer during their few hours or days, the choice to “leave it up to God and enjoy those short hours” would perhaps be an inhumane and even selfish course of action.
Ms. Dupree tells us she “would risk my life to have my child” yet I can’t personally imagine balancing the choice if perhaps one child or more were already a responsibility? I am merely a father and yet expect I’d feel more of a duty to my teenage son than a potential life of a still undelivered child.
Should a woman also not be allowed the choice to remain safe for a husband, an aged parent(s), or simply for herself? What if her ability to have future, likely healthy, children might be endangered? Or must she leave all of this up to God? Would a Judge/Court be another arbiter of her/their fate?
As for the gift of womanhood, what if a pregnancy occurs via rape or incest? What if it results from a failure of responsible birth control efforts? What if a change in a relationship and/or economic circumstances applies to a woman? Must one again simply defer to “God” or the State in the choice to terminate or carry to term this pregnancy?
Further, can’t basic biology and our other sciences explain the intricacies and details Ms. Dupree attributes to a Creator? Can Ms. Dupree and other believers similarly opinionated not make allowances for the less “faithful” among our diverse society?
As to FAITH-N-AU and Ms. Dupree, the above, or any other thought of any constituent, may easily be forwarded to any of our leaders. I’m not, however, aware of any, even the most reliably pro-choice, suggesting “unborn babies are disposable”.
Instead, most simply believe that the decision to have a safe, rare, and legal abortion ought to remain the decision of a woman (with input from her health professionals, her family, her ...) and not by others via the State.
All of this may be an easy question for Ms. Dupree yet for many decent, faithful, and rational citizens, seemingly to include even President Obama, recognition of the many complexities surrounding these issues is accepted.
Well Said!!
Now if we could only send this to Obama..
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