Moral Bearings of the Question.--Most of the considerations presented
thus far have been of a physical character, though occasional
references to the moral aspect of the question have been made. In a
certain sense--and a true one--the question is wholly a moral one; for
what moral right have men or women to do that which will injure the
integrity of the physical organism given them, and for which they are
accountable to their Creator? Surely none; for the man who destroys
himself by degrees, is no less a murderer than he who cuts his throat
or puts a bullet through his brain. The crime is the same--being the
shortening of human life--whether the injury is done to one's self or
to another. In this matter, there are at least three sufferers; the
husband, the wife, and the offspring, though in most cases, doubtless,
the husband is the one to whom the sin almost exclusively belongs.
Unconsidered Murders.--But there is a more startling phase of this
moral question. It is not impossible to show that actual violence is
done to a human life.
It has been previously shown that in the two elements, the ovum of the
female, and the spermatozoon of the male, are, in rudimentary form,
all the elements which go to make up the "human form divine." Alone,
neither of these elements can become anything more than it already is;
but the instant that the two elements come in contact, fecundation takes
place, and the individual life begins. From that moment until maturity
is reached, years subsequently, the whole process is only one of
development. Nothing absolutely new is added at any subsequent moment.
In view of these facts, it is evident that at the very instant of
conception the embryonic human being possesses all the right to life
it ever can possess. It is just as much an individual, a distinct human
being, possessed of soul and body, as it ever is, though in a very
immature form. That conception may take place during the reproductive
act cannot be denied. If, then, means are employed with a view to prevent
conception immediately after the accomplishment of the act, or at any
subsequent time, if successful, it would be by destroying the delicate
product of the conception which had already occurred, and which, as
before observed, is as truly a distinct individual as it can ever
become--certainly as independent as at any time previous to birth.
Is it immoral to take human life? Is it a sin to kill a child? Is it
a crime to strangle an infant at birth? Is it a murderous act to destroy
a half-formed human being in its mother's womb? Who will dare to answer
"No," to one of these questions? Then, who can refuse assent to the
plain truth that it is equally a murder to deprive of life the most
recent product of the generative act?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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