Persuasive Pro Life: How to Talk about Our Culture's Toughest Issue

by Trent Horn

it claims that in the 1974 Declaration on Procured Abortion, the Vatican “acknowledged that it does not know when the fetus becomes a person.” It highlighted this quote from the document: “There is not a unanimous tradition on this point [the exact moment of ensoulment] and authors are as yet in disagreement.”290 This quote comes from a footnote in a section of the declaration that affirms the humanity of the unborn child from conception and condemns any discrimination against human beings, regardless of their level of development. The document says that the humanity of the unborn child from conception has been “confirmed by modern genetic science,” and this fact is true apart from any discussion about when a human embryo receives an immortal soul. It is true that there is disagreement among Christian theologians on exactly which moment an embryo receives a soul. But there is also no way to empirically prove a newborn infant, or anyone for that matter, has an immortal soul. Therefore, this argument from agnosticism proves too much, and it would justify killing humans at any stage of life. It would be more responsible to believe that biological human beings have a right to life, and that is why abortion, infanticide, and other forms of homicide are wrong. Indeed, the footnote from the declaration goes on to say that a human life is still present in the womb, and this fact justifies prohibiting abortion. It also says that if we are unsure about the status of an embryo, then ...