You’re pregnant! What’s that growing inside you? It’s a baby if you want it, but if you don’t, well….then, it’s not!
Hold up. Anyone else confused?
Can it really be a baby and not a baby at the same time? (*Spoiler alert: it can’t!)
A clump of cells….a fetus……a blob of tissue….there are many things people will say in order to avoid calling it what it really is – a baby!
It all comes down to the definition of a human person. Well…that, and science.
First of all, a “fetus” is actually just a stage of biological life. We go from embryo, to fetus, to infant, to toddler, then to teenager and beyond. This is basic 3rd grade science, folks.
AND…..in the 1990s, Dr. Jerome Lejeune, a French pediatrician and geneticist, provided objective evidence that the full human genetic code is present in the human embryo from the moment of sperm-egg fusion.
Basically, he proved that the clump of cells and blob of tissue actually has its own unique DNA, separate from the mother and the father, immediately at the time of conception.
I don’t know about you, but isn’t our unique DNA what makes us each an individual human person?! So then – if we possess our own DNA right from the start (which the pre-born baby does), then we are human persons right from the start.
Hence – it’s a baby!
But if science and personhood aren’t enough for ya, let’s examine this philosophically.
Can it be a “baby” and “not a baby” at the same time?
Age old philosophers would mock that question with tireless ridicule. It breaks the basic philosophical principle of non-contradiction. What does that mean in plain English?
The Principle of Non-Contradiction states that something cannot be both X and not-X in the same respect at the same place and time. It’s a pretty simple principle to understand. In fact, Aristotle said that without it, we wouldn’t know anything that we know now. Pretty hefty stuff.
Now that we’re all regular Platos, let’s break it down more simply. You know, for the regular folks! 😉
There are no square circles. That would be a contradiction. It’s either a square or a circle. And just as a circle cannot be both a circle and a square, a baby cannot be both a “baby” and “not a baby”. Got it?
Now pat yourself on the back, you’ve basically earned a degree in philosophy. Don’t go keeping all this new knowledge to yourself, now, you hear?!
