When Does Life Begin?

Trick question.  Life began some time after the big bang.  The exploding energy condensed into electrons, protons, atoms and molecules.  These elements arranged themselves into various types of life forms which continued to evolve until we come to present day's state of affairs.  In other words, life doesn't "begin".  It "began" a long, long time ago and can be found in all the flora and fauna that cover our earth.  Everywhere we look reproduction is a part of it.

It's a lot more complicated than our fore bearers ever imagined.  Some frogs can change their gender. Homosexual behavior can be found in a subset of all species of mammals.  Such behavior was once thought to be due to nurture.  Today, we recognize it as a part of nature.  And, more importantly, we have made great strides in decriminalizing homosexual behavior.  But, it's been against the teachings of the Christian faith.  Had the Muslims been here earlier, they too would have objected.  The more Orthodox Jews have also been slow in understanding the gay community.

And, where does birth fit into this picture?  Here are some subsets to this question: normal birth, C-sections (Caesarian), contraceptive techniques, and abortions.  Before medicine made its advances, normal birth was the standard.  However, pregnancy did on occasion fail to result in a normal birth.  Either the mother died giving birth, or the baby died before, or after, birth. If the mother died in childbirth or just prior, her stomach was often cut open to remove the fetus, or, if possible, a viable infant.  Generally, this was done for religious reasons; namely, to give both the mother and the fetus separate resting places.  Today, the C-section is a routine procedure with a very high survival rate.

And, finally, we arrive at contraceptions and abortions.  Both are found unacceptable by many members of the Christian faith.  Today we have available to us day-after pills.  Faith imbued people are trying to curtail this form of contraception by imposing all sorts of legal restrictions.  Thank goodness, Americans are increasingly secular.

And now we come to the biggest nut to crack, abortion.  Those opposed to abortion cite the evils of late term abortion.  That's when a fetus might have the opportunity to survive.  The reality, however, is that the great majority of abortions take places in the first trimester.  If a woman wants an abortion in the third trimester, it behoves the government to step in and find a home for the unwanted entity  about to come into the world.  If the woman doesn't want to give birth and the government insists that she do so, it should be the responsibility of the government to find a home for the child that is about to be born.  First and second trimester pregnancies are a different matter and should be terminated if that is the woman's wish.  If God doesn't like it, let Him speak up.