When Does Human Life Begin?

At the heart of the abortion debate is the following question: When does life begin? If you believe that life begins at conception then you will be against abortion; if you believe that life begins when something is out of somebody else’s body then you will be for abortion.

I would like to suggest two alternative definitions: A medical one and a mystical one.

According to the medical definition, life ends when the heart stops beating. This means, logically, that life begins when the heart starts beating. This does not happen at conception, and this does not happen when something is out of somebody else’s body. It happens during the second trimester. According to the medical definition, therefore, abortion should be legal before the heart starts beating and illegal after that.

According to the mystical definition, life starts when the soul enters the body. In my experience that hasn’t been at the conception. When Melanie was pregnant with Lily, she had a dream about Lily’s soul entering the body. This did not happen at conception. This happened one or two months into the pregnancy.

Now of course there will always be men who would want to own women’s bodies; and there will always be women who think that when something is inside their body then they are a part of their body for them to do with what they please. The real question is, when does life begin? I suggest two more moderate definitions that are alternative to either view in the abortion debate. I take the middle road. I hope that my insights into this matter are of benefit to people who are concerned about the issue.