This page presents some thoughts related to the abortion debate
without, I hope, taking sides. A potentially important question
in the debate is "At what stage of development does a fertilized
egg become a human being?" To answer this question
we need to know whether human beings have souls and, if so, at
what stage of development the soul enters the body. "Soul"
here is understood as something distinct from the body that enters
the body at some stage of development.
First, suppose souls do not exist. Then the fertilized
egg contains all it needs to develop into a human child given
the proper environment. Thus, someone who does believe in
souls should accept the idea that a fertilized egg is a human
being. Also, some birth control methods prevent implantation
of fertilized ova and so deny these human beings the envirnoment
they need to develop into healthy children. Maybe one should
oppose such devices, perhaps even as strenuously as one supports
other measures that help fertilized ova grow into healthy children
such as education in methods for preventing STDs (which can cause
birth defects), support for reasonable wages so pregnant women
can be in good health and obtain proper nourishment, support for
strong enviromental standards since fetuses and often more sensitive
and support for measures abroad such as inexpensive AID drugs
for Africa. At any rate, atheists who support abortion
need to do a bit of fancy footwork.
Second, suppose souls do exist. Until a soul is present,
the fetus is not a human being and so could reasonably be subject
to different treatment. When does the soul enter the
fertilized egg? There are a variety of answers.