Abortion: A Rational Look at An Emotional Issue

by R.C. Sproul

In adults, heartbeat and brain waves are commonly referred to as “vital” signs. When both brain waves and the heartbeat cease for a period of time, a patient may be declared legally dead. Vital signs are a demonstration of life. When such signs are clearly present in the developing embryo, why are people so reluctant to speak of prenatal life? The embryo or fetus is not yet an independent living human person, but that does not mean he or she is not a living human person. If independence is the critical criterion for distinguishing living people from living nonpeople, then we must admit (as some readily do) that even birth does not yield a living person. At birth, the baby is disconnected physically from the mother—and in that sense is independent—but a newborn is still desperately dependent on outside help for survival. The newborn can breathe by himself in most cases, but he cannot feed himself.