When does life begin essays

When does life begin essays Three Perspectives on When Life Begins 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. Topic @ 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 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 ...