LIFE BEFORE BIRTH Is the Human Embryo a Person? Much of the current debate about abortion centres on whether the unborn are human persons. The discussion often involves unexamined presuppositions and imprecise use of terms. An adequate discussion of the issue involves consideration of certain key ideas which are among the most important intellectual tools we possess in our effort to understand ourselves and our world. This essay is an attempt to analyse these ideas carefully in order that the discussion may be a search for the truth rather than a buttressing of predetermined positions. The Concentration Can, When Does Life Begin? An Eminent Geneticist Testifies World-renowned geneticist Jerome Lejeune presents a fascinating account of his testimony about the origin of human life during a historic case in Marysville, Tennessee. When asked by the media why, with no advance notice and in the midst of a heavy work schedule, he came immediately from Paris, France to testify in a small town in Tennessee, Lejeune responded, “If the judgment of Solomon, which is pronounced only once every thousand years, occurs during your lifetime, it's worth a detour.” How Life Begins, The Science of Life in the WombChristopher Vaughan 1999 Dell Publishing Is morning sickness actually good for you? Do babies dream in the womb, and if so, what about? How does the developing fetus prepare itself for birth? Until recently, the daily miracles of life inside the womb remained a mystery to those of us outside it. This extraordinary book, drawn from the latest in prenatal research and written with a parent's sense of curiosity and awe, opens a window on the hidden world of the child-to-be —and offers a rare glimpse at what the developing fetus sees, hears, and learns while preparing to be born, including: How a fetus's eye movements work to “boot up” the computer that is the developing brain…How the fetus actually teaches itself to draw its first breath…How cells in the fetus's hands and feet commit programmed suicide to create fingers and toes…and how the baby becomes the choreographer of her mother's labor – and the director of his own birth. The Zero People Who are the Zero People? They're the unborn children who never do get born. They're the old folks to whom someone wants to give a “happy death” before their time comes. They're the handicapped children whom the doctor thinks it merciful to “release from life.” They're the “hopelessly ill,” the “vegetables,” whether by injury or birth. In fact, if you're in an accident tomorrow, you could become one of the Zero People. The Secret Life of the Unborn Child With this new knowledge at their disposal, mothers and fathers have an unparalleled opportunity to help shape the personality of their unborn child. They can actively contribute to his happiness and well-being, and not just in utero , nor in the years immediately following birth, but for the rest of his life.” Death Before Birth The abortion issue is too important to be left to sloganeering. Although the issue divides our communities, we are ‘rational,' we can give reasons for our own views, and we can weigh the reasons of those from whom we dissent. In this volume, seventeen authors have contributed their reasons for rejecting abortion. Is a fetus human? What does it mean to be human? How did Canada arrive at her present abortion legislation? Whose rights are at stake when a child is “unwanted”? If rights are in conflict, whose rights ought to prevail? Are all physicians, all psychiatrists, in favour of abortion on demand? Why not? Does commitment to women's lib mean assent to easy abortion? The seventeen contributors subject questions of this sort to critical discussion; these are questions of life and death for the unborn, for society, for you. In My Mother's Womb, The Catholic Church's Defense of Natural Life This book is a remarkably interesting and effective statement of the Catholic view of human life. In Part I, author Donald DeMarco focuses on abortion in its relation to compassion, the use of language, Church teaching, contraception, the family, and bio-engineering. In Part II, he looks at other bioethical issues, brining In My Mother's Womb completely up-to-date with treatements of bioethics and theology, genetic engineering, in vitro fertilization, fetal experimentation, sex-preselection, and surrogate motherhood. The book concludes with a moving critique of technologized parenthood. Rites of Life, The Scientific Evidence of Life Before Birth “We cannot respect life if we do not know life.” These words of David Rorvik capsulize the purpose of this book. In Rites of Life, this noted science writer teams with a leading authority in human embryology to examine the fascinating world of the unborn. Through words and photographs they offer a unique look at the unfolding drama that has been too often ignored in the public debate over when life begins. The Human Development Hoax, Time to Tell the Truth This is an anthology of recent articles which concern human pre-natal development (embryology), its true science, and its relation to philosophy and public policy. It was prepared in order to widen the dissemination of and to correct the misstatements about human pre-natal development (embryology), its true science, and its relation to philosophy and public policy. It was prepared in order to widen the dissemination of and to correct the misstatements about human embryology, and to encourage others to use the correct human embryology in their own fields of endeavor. Beginning Life, The Marvelous Journey from Conception to Birth The story of the remarkable journey which all of us make from conception to birth has never been more graphically or movingly told. Hour by hour, then day by day, then week by week, Geraldine Lux Flanagan unravels for us the mysteries of that inner world in which we are first formed as human beings. The Facts of Life, A Three-Dimensional Study This remarkable book, from the creators of ‘The Human Body', reveals in breathtaking three-dimensional illustrations the miraculous story of life before birth. The human male and female reproductive systems, the fertilisation of the egg and the subsequent development of the baby are described in outstanding detail. Being Born What could you see, what could you hear, what could you feel, what did you do in that dark place inside your mother's body? What was it like to be born? Sensitively told, superbly photographed, this is the documentary story of the nine-month journey from conception to birth. |