07-Summary of the Abortion Controversy

The ABC' s of Abortion

The ABC's of Abortion Rights

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We Bring the Light of Truth to the Abortion Issue.

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The TLC Pro-Choice Position Statement

Why I Am Pro-choice!

Abortion in Summary

If you will take the time to read this summary, you'll have a basic
understanding of what the abortion controversy is all about.

Truth and Freedom ...

The “Real” Truth

About the Abortion Controversy

A A Stand for Truth and Freedom:

We have heard so much controversy around the idea of forcing unwilling women to become mothers that we decided, if we were going to take a stand on this issue, we would be wise to: 1) stand on the side of truth and religious freedom, 2) support the people we love, 3) honor the rights, the choices, and the private, personal decisions of all our fellow humans, and 4) promote views which are in the long-term best interest of all living creatures, human and otherwise.

B On What Can We Base Our Laws?

In order to honor religious freedom and personal liberty as well as abide by the United States Constitution, any legislation restricting a woman’s right of choice in motherhood must be based on factual evidence and not on personal religious beliefs. Because we are not experts in all the aspects of this topic, we relied on the advice of biologists, historians, legal scholars, and religious scholars. We asked the advice of clergy and lay people of several different religious persuasions. And we asked the advice of ordinary people just like you and me. Here’s a summary of what we learned.

C The "Real" Truth About Abortion Is:

WE DON'T KNOW THE TRUTH!

And we have no way to find the truth!

Why do we say that?

Because the speculations about the meaning and consequences of abortion push us deeply into the age-old, still-unanswerable, religious questions.

The Evidence . More Evidence .

More Evidence . More Evidence .

D Nobody Can Prove When
an Independent Human Life Begins!

The anti-abortionists have proclaimed that a separate, independent, individual, human life begins at conception,. BUT...

NOBODY!

          Not even the United Sates Supreme Court,
          could find even one lick of factual evidence
          or any scientific research data
          to support such a claim.

There is no scriptural support for such a claim. It's directly contradicted by Genesis 2:7 . in the Christian Bible, and its origin dates back into antiquity and comes to us from the same people who believed the Earth was flat. .

The Evidence . More Evidence .

More Evidence . More Evidence .

E Other Religions Hold Different Beliefs:

In fact, we heard an abundance of very different religious beliefs. Actually, several billion people hold beliefs that are in sharp contrast to those put forth by the anti-choice leaders. Even the Christian Bible offers a conflicting belief. It says that an individual’s life begins at first breath (Genesis 2:7).. Here’s the truth we learned about the relationship between abortion and religion.

The Evidence. More Evidence.

More Evidence. More Evidence.

F To Avoid Religious Tyranny:

In order for anti-abortion laws to be moral and ethical, two, fundamental, underlying religious beliefs put forth by the anti-abortion promoters must be not only beliefs, they must also be provable facts. These two beliefs form the foundation upon which the entire anti-abortion campaign is based.

If either of the following two beliefs is not also a verifiable truth, then any secular law based on them is nothing short of religious tyranny, and enforcing that law constitutes a disguised form of religious persecution.

Here’s the first one:

G Supernatural Transcendental Magic:

Every time a human egg and sperm unite, God steps in and, by an act of instantaneous, supernatural, transcendental magic, transforms that egg and sperm into a brand new, never-before-existing, separate, complete, eternal, sovereign, human being. (For the full text on this belief)

According to this belief, that brand new being did not exist before the egg and sperm united. In addition, the fertilized egg, itself is now declared to be a complete, separate, independent human being to be accorded full human rights:

Even though it has been an integral part of the woman’s body since her birth,

Even though it is still totally dependent upon her for its survival, and

Regardless of the wishes and desires of the woman in whose body the egg resides.

Also, according to this belief, each human being lives only once as a physical body on Earth and then goes to heaven or hell, or is simply abandoned by God and sent to some undefined place. forever more.

There is the second religious belief that must also be absolute, provable fact. See the next section below.

The Body Proclamation .Physical Body. .Physical Body. ...

A Major Conflict
in Religion and Now in Politics
Revolves Around the Answer to this Question:

Is a Human Being His/Her Physical Body?

Is a human being his/her physical body as the fundamentalist Christians claim? Does God really step in and create a brand new human being EVERY time a human egg and sperm unite?°

The Three Religious Theories / Assumptions:

Both Atheism and Christian One-life-ism claim that a human being is his or her physical body. The Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, follow the belief that a human being is an eternal non-physical spirit being who temporarily inhabits a physical body to experience life on Earth.

Readers are directed to the page titled: Three Religious Theories / Assumptions° which offers an in-depth analysis of atheism, Christian one-life-ism, and reincarnation. Each assumption results in people living their lives very differently from those who believe in either of the other two.

The Religious Question:

"Are you your physical body, created by God at Conception?" or "Are you an eternal, non-physical spirit being who simply inhabits a physical body to experience life on Earth?" A vast amount of human behavior depends upon which of these theories is correct, including, the controversies regarding:

Forced Motherhood (Abortion)°

Evolution Versus Six Days of Creation°. -

Stem Cell Research°

Capital Punishment -- The Death Penalty°

The Rapture°

If humans are non-physical, spirit beings as the Christian Bible tells us,° and as the physical evidence seems to indicate, then intentionally terminating a pregnancy is the biological equivalent of halting work on a construction site. If this perspective is correct, then when a pregnancy is terminated, the spirit being (who would have entered the body if it had been fully formed) simply enters a different newly formed body at a different time.

This Question Is also One of Two Core Questions ^***
in the Political Portion of the Abortion Controversy:

If you’re like us, we had to ask: “What’s so important about being or not being our physical bodies?” Well, here’s the answer we received: "If a human being is his/her physical body (in the form of a fertilized egg) that God has magically transformed° into a new, separate, sovereign, individual, human being at conception, then doing anything to interrupt the lifecycle of that egg is, indeed, taking a life, and secular laws are appropriate." The Ultra-conservative Christians claim that God's conception magic act° is an absolute fact, But, they have a serious problem. They have no way to prove their claims, and strong evidence points to a different conclusion that is a far more logical.

I. Another Possibility ...

Another Possibility:

If humans are something other than their physical bodies,° then the egg is merely the seed, the "blueprints," the instructions from which a physical, human body is created out of earth matter. (See Body Versus Spirit)° That potential, when developed and nurtured, grows into a physical body which becomes the host for a being, for a soul, or as the Christian Bible calls it, a host for the "Spirit."

Obviously, if the physical egg, itself, is not the human being, then what happens to that egg is a personal, private matter^° and is not an issue for public debate.

Thus, the forced motherhood (anti-abortion) debate is is not about whether or not there is a physical body in the womb. The debate is not about whether on not the zygote/ embryo/ fetus is alive, human, and unique.°

The real question is: What is Life and where is it located?^° Is life the physical body, itself?° or is life in the spirit which inhabits the physical body?^°

The forced motherhood (anti-abortion) proponents claim that from the moment of conception, the physical matter, itself, (the zygote /embryo / fetus) is a newly created, independent human being.°

Is a human being his/her physical body as the fundamentalist Christians claim? Does God really step in and create a brand new human being EVERY time a human egg and sperm unite? Is life in the spirit° which enters into and and temporarily uses a physical body to connect to and experience earth-plane reality? Billions of non-fundamentals Christians believe in reincarnation)° If they are correct, then aborting an embryo is similar to halting work on a construction site, and secular laws prohibiting abortion are nothing more than disguised forms of religious tyranny.

The Evidence:

There is no evidence whatsoever that can prove that a human being is his or her physical body. This faith-based belief conflicts with the scientific evidence which tells us that everything thought of as physical is not physical at all -- that everything which appears to be physical is actually only energy -- that energy is controlled by consciousness -- that what consciousness is, where it is, and how it functions is still a mystery.

Science has yet to find any evidence as to what human consciousness is or where it is located. No evidence whatsoever has ever been found indicating that human consciousness is part of the physical body. You might also note that the evidence indicates that body cells have a life cycle of their own with a maximum life of about six or seven years. Some organs such as the live recycle all the cells in a matter of a few months.

Readers who think that they are their body are urges to examine the latest findings of astronomy and sub-atomic physics. A good place to start is to watch the film: What the Bleep do we Know?°

The "I am my body" belief also conflicts with the Christian Bible which, in numerous passages, clearly distinguishes between the spirit which inhabits an Earthly, physical body and the body, itself.°

This leaves the conservative fundamentalist Christians with this problem: How can a human being be a physical body when physical matter does not exist --when there is only energy?

Here's a brief quote from one of the What the Bleep Do We Know film reviews:° "The film uses the advances in Quantum Physics to explore human psychology and its role, much more active and participatory than previously believed, in the creation of reality. The question is posed early in the film, 'How can we continue to see the world as real if the self that is determining it as real is intangible?' Quantum Physics is described as the 'science of possibilities,' a discipline that begins to blend into a very real and humbling mysticism the further one pursues it."

The Bottom Line:

There are widely divergent conflicting beliefs° about the answers to these questions, and there are no provable answers.° Thus, the question, "Is abortion right or wrong?, belongs the realm of religion and philosophy where it has been hotly debated for centuries.

In a free society, beliefs about reality, including guesswork, conjecture, speculation, and Medieval religious fairytales° are not the basis for passing secular laws which force one group's religious beliefs onto everyone else. Attempting to do so clearly violates our God-granted right of self-determination and our Constitutionally guaranteed right to religious freedom!

*** The Second core question is:
When does an independent human life begin?°

Additional Evidence°

.Possibility. .Possibility. ...

Also see: Body Versus Spirit^°

...

J Another Question:

This raises still another major ethical and religious question: Are we our physical bodies or are we something other than our physical bodies? Again we turned to the scholars and were told:

1) There is overwhelming circumstantial evidence and considerable scientific evidence to indicate that humans are something other than their physical bodies. Here are two examples:

a) Cells in the human body constantly reproduce and die. The cells of some organs, such as the liver, replace themselves in only a matter of few weeks. No cell in a human body is older that two years. (Some older sources say seven years.)

b) Physicists tell us that on the subatomic level, there is no such thing as physical matter. Everything is energy — energy controlled by consciousness.

2) There is abundant religious doctrine in every major faith which supports the belief humans are not simply physical bodies; and

3) There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever to back up the anti-abortion promoter’s claim that a human being is his or her physical body.

The Evidence. More Evidence.

K Billions of People Hold Different Beliefs:

In fact, the story that the no-choice promoters are peddling is in direct conflict with the religious beliefs of millions of Christians who believe the bible is accurate when, in several places (such as Ecclesiastes 11:5 RSV),. it clearly distinguishes between body and spirit, and when, in Genesis 2:7, it says that the breath of life (the spirit) comes into a fully formed human body at first breath (at birth).

The story being told by the anti-abortion leaders - - the story that we are our physical bodies is also in conflict with literally billions of non-Christians. Devotees of Hinduism, Buddhism, and other Eastern religions believe that humans are spirit beings. who always were and always will be - - and who only temporarily inhabit physical bodies.

The Talmud (the Jewish sacred text) states that an individual human life begins at birth. Native Americans also hold that an individual life begins at birth. And verses 23.12-14 and 15.28ff of the Koran (the Moslem sacred text) express language similar in meaning to Genesis 2:7, which also indicates that life begins at first breath.

The Evidence.

L The Biologists’ Perspective:

From a scientific perspective, life on Earth began about several billion years ago and has continued uninterrupted ever since. Life doesn’t begin from non-life anymore. Existing life just keeps changing form.

When you consider the individual members of a life form such as humans, there are indeed beginnings and endings. Given the context that life is made up of never-ending, ever-moving, ever-changing cycles of birth, life, and death, the question is: “When does a life form become an independent unit of life separate from its parents.” Placing that dividing line in the cycles of life can be done only by arbitrary choice.

Some life forms produce hundreds of thousand of copies of themselves so that one or two will survive to reach the adult stage. It would be ludicrous to think that every copy survives to adulthood. God/nature just doesn’t work that way.

.Alive-Human-Unique. .Alive-Human-Unique. ...

M Alive, Human, and Unique:

And, as if all that isn’t enough to open your mind to religious freedom, let us share with you a third commonly offered, false argument for restricting women’s reproductive rights. The forced-motherhood promoters say, “Because a fertilized egg is alive, human and unique, it should be accorded full human rights.”

Well, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that a woman’s mature egg, which has been stored and sustained among thousands of other eggs in her body since her birth, always was, is now, and always will be both alive and human. Eggs are, after all, the starting points from which almost all life forms (including humans) make living copies of themselves. And, as for being unique, we all know that everything in the entire universe is unique.

N One Equals Three Trillion:

Those who promote forced motherhood claim that one, single, incomplete, dependent, unsustainable cell (so small it’s almost invisible to the naked eye) is the same as a breathing, laughing, crying, 3,000,000,000,000 (three trillion) cell human baby. That’s like saying a redwood tree seed (which is about the size of a grain of rice) is the same as a thousand- year-old, thirty-seven-ton redwood tree.

Each month, literally billions of these alive, human, unique eggs mature in female bodies (one per woman) and are naturally discarded to die with no outcry from the anti-abortion peddlers. And, in every normal, human, male ejaculation, several million alive, human, unique sperm cells are expelled to their death.

So using alive, unique and human as a basis for arguing against women’s reproductive rights is like arguing that water is water because its wet and it’s wet because it’s water; therefore, abortion should be illegal. This is hardly a legitimate reason to pass laws which directly, or indirectly, force unwilling women to bear unwanted children.

O Still More Transcendental Magic:

Then we heard still another twist that makes the “I am my body” claim even harder to believe. These same people who declare they are their physical bodies go on to proclaim that, at death, by another act of God’s transcendental magic, they suddenly become something other than their earthly bodies and go someplace above the clouds to live forever without their physical bodies. Again, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever to support this transformation from “humans who are their bodies” into “beings who are something other than their bodies.”

P Reality Versus Beliefs About Reality:

All this leads us to some very fundamental questions:

Which abortion-related statements are factual?

Which statements are only religious beliefs?

We know the anti-abortionists claim He does, but does God really create a brand new soul every time a human egg and sperm unite? What evidence is there to support such a claim? Where did this story come from?

How do we separate factual evidence from religious beliefs?

When does an independent human life begin?

Are we our physical bodies?

Are we eternal being who simply inhabit physical bodies?

Are we a soul with a body, a body with a soul, or only a lump of dust that has somehow magically acquired consciousness?

If we are our physical bodies, how do we get to heaven after our body dies?

If we are not our physical bodies, then what's all the anti-abortion fuss about?

Can there be life without spirit?

What is this non-earthly “stuff” we call spirit, anyway?

Was every human being created magically by God at conception?

Are we eternal beings who always were and always will be?

Where did we come from?

Where are we going?

What are we?

What’s the purpose of human life? Is life on Earth simply a ticket to heaven. Is life on Earth a test we must pass in order to get into heaven? Or does human life have some other purpose?

What happens to “us” when our body dies?

These religious questions have been debated through the ages. Each religion has its own set of answers to these questions. Do their answers represent reality or are they beliefs about reality? How can a human being be all of the following three things all at the same time: 1-an eternal being, 2) a new being created at conception/or birth and 3) only Earth matter that has magically acquired consciousness.

Given present levels of science and technology, we can only speculate about these questions because nobody has any definitive answers. Nobody can say with certainty, "I'm right and you are wrong."

Q Several Conflicting Possibilities:

As examples, here are just some of the conflicting beliefs:

The anti-abortions advocates claim that a God “out there somewhere” creates a brand new soul instantaneously every time a human sperm and egg unite.

The Jewish Talmud states that life begins at birth.

The Christian Bible (in Genesis 2:7) clearly states that life in a physical body begins at first breath.

The Moslem Koran (23.12-14 and 15.28ff) indirectly states that life begins at first breath.

The Eastern cultures hold that each being is a pre-existing aspect of God (an eternal soul) that enters a series of physical bodies.

The atheists say there is no soul at all; that we are just physical bodies that have somehow acquired consciousness.

The agnostics say nobody knows the answers to these philosophical questions.