Recently, an Alabama court ruled that the frozen embryos used for in vitro fertilization counted as living human beings. This ruling has been controversial to say the least, and begs the question: what counts as a human being?
Before exploring this question more fully, I would like to say that this is not a post about abortion, merely a subject that some consider relevant to it. As such, I would like to request that the subject not be mentioned in any comments that might follow.
Now, what is human being?
Roughly put, a human being is someone who can be killed. If you were to run in with a sword and chop off a human’s head, you would be charged with murder.
Can ‘human’ be defined more clearly? Plenty of people have tried.
Human DNA is a big indicator. But I’m pretty sure if someone came and chopped up a vial of my blood, it would not count as murder. Which means it takes more than DNA to count as a human being.
Braininess
Some say that a developed brain is what makes a human. Until the brain reaches a certain level of development, the creature that possesses it does not count as a living person.
The human brain takes a long time to develop fully. If you are under twenty-five years, your brain is not fully developed. But, if someone were to chop off the head of a twenty-year-old, I pretty sure it would count as murder.
Then there are the people whose brain never develops properly. A head injury, a strand of DNA twisted the wrong way, severe malnutrition at a young age …
Surely it would count as murder if someone came in and chopped off the head of one of these with a sword? Surely human life is more than just brain power?
Survival of the Youngest
Others define human life as ‘anything able to survive outside the womb’. If it can breath and feed on its own, outside of a womb, then it’s human.
The thing is, my sisters were premies, born months too early. Neither one could feed on their own; a tube had to be inserted through their nose, delivering milk straight to their stomachs.
One couldn’t even breath on her own; she spent several months attached to a giant oxygen tank.
Their bodies were not ready to survive outside the womb.
If someone had come in and chopped of my sisters’ head, they would be charged with murder. And in the likely event that I were to track down and kill said someone?
The courts might condemn it, but I suspect there would be a lot of sympathy.
Babies have been born much earlier than my sisters and survived.
Part of the Body
The next definition of human life gets thrown around a lot on the internet; two humans cannot share a body. Therefore, if a fetus, or an organ is still part of your body, it is not a human being in its own right.
Going by this rule, conjoined twin are not separate people. Both are still a part of the other’s body.
Some conjoined twins can, eventually, be separated. Others cannot.
If someone were to run up to a pair of conjoined twins, still attached to each other, and chop off one of the two heads, would it still count as murder?
After all, the other head is just fine.
I’m pretty sure a charge of murder would follow, nonetheless.
In Closing
There are many arguments about what constitutes human life. These are just three of the more scientific ones; when one starts considering the soul things get really complicated.
So what does constitute a human life? If you have any theories, please let me know.
the Left Handed Blotcher 