- Feb 5, 2002
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On December 5, 2022, two of my colleagues at the University of Notre Dame, Tamara Kay and Susan Ostermann, both on the faculty of the Keough School of Global Affairs, published on op-ed in the Chicago Tribune purporting to refute “lies,” “intentional misinformation,” and “utter falsities,” that have served to “erode access to abortion” in the United States.
The day after, Fr. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, published a letter to the editor to the Tribune stating:
What is magic about the moment of conception? skeptics ask. In fact, something special happens at this moment: A new human being is formed. Three important qualities characterize it.
First, it is complete. A unified being with an entire set of chromosomes, containing the full incipient capacities of a human person, now exists. Had not the mother’s egg been fertilized, no such being would exist.
Second, it is distinct. Although this being is dependent upon the mother’s nourishment, it differs from the mother’s kidney or stomach in that it is a separate human being that exists within a larger human being.
Third, it possesses an internally directed trajectory of growth. Once formed, the zygote immediately begins to multiply, a process of expansion that, unless halted by natural threats or human decision, will develop into a person who will laugh, throw a baseball, and acquire grey hair.
Continued below.
arcoftheuniverse.info
The day after, Fr. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., President of the University of Notre Dame, published a letter to the editor to the Tribune stating:
As a professor at Notre Dame who teaches about justice about politics, including global affairs, I wish to exercise the same freedom. I consider one of the four “lies” my colleagues allege: “abortion kills babies,” as they put it. They write that “almost 90% of abortions occur during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy when there are no babies or fetuses.” The truth is that babies begin at conception and has great consequences for justice.
What is magic about the moment of conception? skeptics ask. In fact, something special happens at this moment: A new human being is formed. Three important qualities characterize it.
First, it is complete. A unified being with an entire set of chromosomes, containing the full incipient capacities of a human person, now exists. Had not the mother’s egg been fertilized, no such being would exist.
Second, it is distinct. Although this being is dependent upon the mother’s nourishment, it differs from the mother’s kidney or stomach in that it is a separate human being that exists within a larger human being.
Third, it possesses an internally directed trajectory of growth. Once formed, the zygote immediately begins to multiply, a process of expansion that, unless halted by natural threats or human decision, will develop into a person who will laugh, throw a baseball, and acquire grey hair.
Continued below.
The Truth About Life: A Response to Professors Kay and Ostermann – arcoftheuniverse
arcoftheuniverse.info
