When Life Begins in a Free Society

Re “Listen to the Many Voices on ‘When Life Begins,’ ” Commentary, Aug. 6: Daniel C. Maguire--and most other writers on the subject--ignore those of us who have a scientific approach to the question of “when life begins.” The answer, to me, is quite simple: a distinct human life begins when the new “package” of DNA is created, at the first cell division after fertilization of the ovum. I think my standard is much more straightforward than relying on the religious/philosophical teachings of generations past who did not even understand how the common cold is transmitted.

I have the greatest respect for philosophy, but we must remember that it is typically a product of its time. Our forebears were simply trying to answer the “big questions,” as we are today. Let’s not continue to rely on concepts like “quickening.” If a DNA test can identify us as distinct individuals to acquit (or convict) us of a crime, it can surely identify us as separate from our parents. The hard nut to crack in this situation is not when we become human, it is when we are accorded the rights that we confer upon humans. We must stop pretending that the organisms that we are all talking about are not the first stages of human-hood that we all went through. You really don’t have to be religious to see the embryo as human life.

Jerry R. Thill

Long Beach

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It is because there are indeed many voices on when life begins--including, in addition to religious views, a secular scientific view that a functioning human brain capable of thought and able to perceive sensations, which does not exist until the end of the seventh month of gestation, is essential to the present existence of a “human person”--that, in this nation where the Constitution prohibits any establishment of religion, each individual person is and must continue to be free to decide the question for herself.

Alan R. Gordon

Camarillo

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If we listen to the many religious and ethical sources, as Maguire urges us to do, then we will hear nothing but noise from the Tower of Babel. The question of “when life begins” is the wrong question to ask. The question we must answer is what do we, as a democratic society, want in regard to stem cell research and abortion? The majority of citizens must let their answers be heard. If the majority proves to be wrong, then time will correct their views--as the abolition of slavery corrected an evil system in our democratic society. To let so-called religious or ethical experts impose their views on the majority is to weaken and perhaps destroy the very foundations of our constitutional government.

Leon M. Salter

Los Angeles