In defence of human life

The Society for the Protection of Unborn children is to hold its European Conference in London tomorrow and on Saturday. Its intention is to help pro-life groups work within a common strategy towards common goals, while keeping an eye on the pro-life issues discussed in the European parliament.

These days, when wars, terrorist attacks, traffic accidents, drug abuse, crime and other forms of violence make us so conscious of death, a renewed affirmation of the sanctity and inviolability of human life is imperative.

A society that is on the side of human life should rule out recourse to the prevention of life or to its destruction in any of its phases, from conception to natural death. However, although the right to live is trumpeted by many people everywhere, in some quarters a culture of death prevails.

Reverence for life demands the unconditional exclusion of any direct interruption of life once it is conceived. Conception initiates a process whose purpose is the realisation of human personality. A human person, nothing more and nothing less, is always at issue once conception has taken place.

From the very moment of conception, the baby to be born is a human person and for that reason possesses immense dignity. He is a person loved directly and personally by God. The human person is not an object. He is someone, not something. This is the ABC of sound anthropology.

Science recognises the presence of a genetic code in a single cell; this is to say that the sum total of all genetic traits that will eventually develop are already present in that single cell, though environmental factors also play a role in the development of a person.

Besides, biomedical science has provided much more information about the pre-natal world than that which was available a few decades ago. A captivating article accompanied by stunning pictures in Time magazine quoted a study which found, by means of ultra-sound devices, reliable evidence that a foetus is a viable human being much earlier than hitherto believed.

The baby to be born is a subject of rights, first and foremost among them the fundamental right to live. The elimination of a baby-to-be is a violation of this right and a great injustice.

Abortion, in fact, is nothing else than the application of capital punishment to an innocent creature. Worse still, it is brought about by the collaboration of parents, surgeons, doctors, legislators and jurists, each of them having their share of responsibility in the execution of the unborn child. It is a conspiracy which brings to an end through an irreversible procedure both the existence and the destiny of the developing human person.

The Church's words on the topic cannot be more trenchant: God, the Lord of life, has conferred on man the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life. Therefore, from the moment of conception, life must be guarded with the greatest care, while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes.

In our country, it seems that public opinion is by and large against abortion. In fact, in a recent survey on religious attitudes and practice among university students, 62 per cent said that abortion was always morally wrong, while 97 per cent rejected the opinion that there is nothing wrong with abortion.

In spite of all this, we come across voices in the local media which seem to point towards legal and moral acceptance of directly procured abortion, although at present they are rather sporadic. In all probability, pressures threatening the right of life for the unborn child will be stepped-up in the not too distant future.

Nevertheless, even against all odds, certain principles and values must be defended not just by Catholics but also by all people of goodwill who believe in the sacredness of life and are aware of the utter gravity of destroying, rather killing, the human life of the unborn.