Who has the right to decide on the lives of the others? To decide about the existence or non-existence of another person, especially when he is defenseless? For each of us life is priceless, it is a fundamental and inviolable value. There is no such an amount of money to buy a life. Everyone is fighting even for a shortest moment of existence.

A draft of the Law on the protection of a life in the prenatal stage is going to be discussed by the Seimas during the spring session. The authors of this law are the Members of the Seimas on behalf of EAPL. Being deeply convinced that such a law is necessary, I would like to present you some valid arguments.

I believe that the discussion on this important issue is needed so what surprised me extremely is that the followers of liberal ideology are afraid of an open discussion and are trying to escape of it.

Abortion in Christianity

This issue should be considered in the context of Christian faith. As far as we know, the Church has not always had a clear position against abortion. For the first six centuries of Christianity theologians have not reached agreement on the issue whether early abortion is or is not a murder. There was no clarity at what point the humanization occurs. St. Augustine in his work "Enchiridion ad Laurentium seu de fide, spe et caritate" makes a distinction in the matter of resurrection between the fetuses "which are fully formed" and those which have not reached full development yet. "The unformed fetuses disappear as grains, which do not give fruit"- he said. St. Augustine claimed, that the human life begins at a certain point of embryo development. However, the others believed that the abortion is a murder made at any time. This group of theologians argued that the humanization occurs immediately after the conception. One point, on which they agreed, was to define the abortion as a sin if the purpose of the procedure was to hide adultery.

There are some doubts regarding the interpretation of the views on the abortion of St. Augustine. Firstly, in the early stages of the development of medicine, St. Augustine could not have the full knowledge on the stages of the embryo development. Secondly, how he could know that the soul is put into the embryo at 12 weeks after conception? Many questions and doubts are raised while trying to understand works of St. Augustine.

The Holy Bible does not mention deliberate abortion at all and so the direct condemnation of this act is not included. However, the opinion of the Catholic Church and the Pope on the issue of the abortion is clear and uncompromising. According to the teaching of the Church, abortion is a murder of an absolutely innocent person.

The cornerstone of the Law

"A human life from the moment of the conception should be absolutely respected and protected". This statement is a cornerstone of an anti-abortion law suggested by EAPL. The main argument of the critics of the law prohibiting abortion is that the zygote in the womb of a mother is a part of a woman's body so she has the right to decide what to do with it. However, this single cell is already very unique. It is already created; from that moment until his death nothing more is added except food and oxygen.

Another proof, that the little creature is already an independent human body, may be an example of fertilization "in vitro". If the embryo of a black father and a black mother is implanted in the womb of a white woman, the child who will be born will be the child of these two black parents. The white woman provides him only with food and shelter while he is developing. Furthermore, how can this embryo, with its own unique DNA code, be considered as a part of the woman's body?

The followers of the liberal view on abortion claim that the anti-abortion law will not stop the practice of abortions; it will turn into illegal and force women to practice the "abortion tourism". I'm surprised with illogical arguments of the opponents of this law. No one ever comes to mind to abolish the penalties for crimes just because illegal activities and crimes still exist. Even the harshest criminal code will not eliminate these activities, but only reduce their number. The same should happen with the anti-abortion law. Even the discussion on this topic by itself should reduce the number of abortions.

The opponents of the prohibition on abortion claim that abortion makes it possible to adjust the size of the family and at the same time the quality of children's life. They believe that the adoption or orphanage is not a solution of the problem of unwanted children. Conservatives cite a very powerful and accurate counter-argument: where it is a question about the protection of human life, there no pragmatic argument exists.

When does the human life begin?

There are only two basic questions:

1. Is IT a human life?

2. When does THIS human life begin: from the moment of the conception or from birth?

What does it mean to "be alive"?

A living being is one that grows, develops, matures, and its dying cells are replaced by the new ones.

What does it mean "human"?

The term "human" means one of the biological beings that belong to the species of Homo Sapiens. Such beings are essentially unique and different from the others, because each cell has 46 chromosomes. Such a being can not belong to a family of animals or plants.

In order to prevent the debate on this subject, the opponents of the prohibition on the abortion claim that human life begins at birth which is based on the Art. 2 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. I was greatly surprised by this statement because we all know that even the prematurely born child with the necessary medical care normally grows outside the mother's womb.

There are known cases of very early births:

•    Melissa Cameron - 20 weeks - 450g - December 1983 (Sault Ste. Marie Hospital Cincinnati USA);

•    Kenya King - 21 weeks - 510g - June 16, 1985 (Med World News. Oct. 11, 1895, p. 119)

There are plenty of examples. This is a proof that a life begins much earlier than after the traditional pregnancy period of women.

The first cell division occurs in about 30 hours after the conception. The single cell is divided into two. In each of them there is a complete and identical DNA code. Then we have three cells, then four, eight, sixteen, etc. When a sufficient number of cells is reached, the formation of organs and body structure begins. On the 18th day the heart starts to beat and on the 21st the blood is being different than mother's blood. On the 40th day the brain starts to function. Brain waves were recorded on the electroencephalogram (EEG) at 40 days of age (H. Hamlin, "Life or Death by EEG").


So it can be easily stated that after the fertilization process a new human already exists! If there are still any doubts, I would like to cite the argument of the Lithuanian Committee of Bioethics, which states that a person develops gradually and it is impossible to determine the time when the fetus becomes a person. We must admit an indivisible continuation of the human development from the very conception till death. The human being grows and develops both in the womb of the mother and after his birth.

What right and who determined that a person inside the woman's womb can be killed and outside - not?

Scientific authorities

In 1981 the U.S. Senate considered the draft of the Law "On human life" (no. 158). Senator John East conducted an interview (8 days, 57 sworn experts). American and international scientists were interviewed. A quote from the official report of the 97th Senate Congress p.158:

"Doctors, biologists and other scientists agree that conception (their definitions of fertilization and conception are equivalent) marks the beginning of the human life - someone who lives, belongs to the human species."

Article 2 of the Convention, which is titled "Right to Life" states: "Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be deprived of his life." It is not mentioned that life is protected only after birth. However, Members of Parliament who are against the law on the protection of unborn life, based on the article, say that life is protected from the moment of birth. Not at all.

There is one more serious problem - what to do in the situation if parents do not want their mentally or physically disabled children? Can we tolerate abortion in such a case? Studies have shown that there is no big difference in the degree of satisfaction with life, ideas for the future and the susceptibility to frustrations between the handicapped and healthy individuals. It has been shown that people with disabilities are enjoying the life not less than "normal" people.

To sum up:

1. Human life begins at conception.

2. When it refers to the protection of human life, pragmatic arguments cannot exist.

Zbignev Jedinski