By The Rev. Ron Wasowski, C.S.C
On several occasions during the campaign, President-elect Barack Obama called for common ground on the issue of abortion. As his inauguration nears, I would like to respond to his request by proposing three elements of common ground on the issue of abortion.
First, as a natural scientist, I am firmly committed to always beginning and staying with the relevant facts. Regarding abortion, perhaps the most crucial relevant fact is when a new human life begins. Many abortion advocates claim that this is a matter of faith rather than science. Some even claim that it is a matter of Catholic doctrine or dogma. However, neither of these claims is even close to accurate. Developmental biologists have known for about 150 years that the life of every individual human being begins at conception, the process which unites two single strands of DNA (one from a female, the other from a male) into the famous double helix for which Watson and Crick received the 1962 Nobel Prize.
At this point in time, the process of conception is extremely well known, both at the cellular and molecular levels. This has everything to do with science and nothing to do with faith.
Therefore, I propose that the first element of common ground regarding abortion be the unassailable scientific fact that the life of every individual human being begins at conception. Second, as a natural scientist, I am also firmly committed to logical consistency in proceeding from relevant facts to the implications of those facts.
One important part of this is whether there is any other critical stage in human development that might suggest a factual basis for a different biological or legal status for when a new human life begins. For example, the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision invokes gestational trimesters as critical legal stages. Developmental biologists once again have long known that human gestational development is a continuum with absolutely no discontinuities.
Indeed, the trimester boundaries are arbitrary and approximate. For instance, the start of the second trimester is arbitrary because it is usually defined as that stage in gestational development at which an expert can definitively identify the embryo as belonging to the human species. It is approximate because every embryo develops at a different pace.
Once again, this has everything to do with science and nothing to do with faith. Therefore, I propose that the second element of common ground regarding abortion be that there is no logical scientific argument that any event other than conception is the beginning of every individual human life.
Third, as a Catholic priest, I am also firmly committed to a consistent and well reasoned set of values. A specific set of values would undoubtedly be the most difficult element of common ground regarding abortion. Accepting the unassailable scientific fact of when human life begins, the Roman Catholic Church's "Consistent Life Ethic" is very well expressed in the writings of both Pope John II and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, most recently in their document "Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship."
An oft-repeated theme is well summarized is the document's assertion that "the dignity of every person ... is the core of Catholic moral and social teaching." That is precisely why that document also repeatedly refers to "the Church's comprehensive commitment to the life and dignity of every human being from conception to natural death."
Therefore, I propose that the third element of common ground regarding abortion be that both sides clearly and publicly explain their value systems and how those value systems lead them logically from the unassailable scientific fact that human life begins at conception to advocacy of either abortion or life.
