Very Few During His Lifetime example essay topic

294 words
abortion is bad Life and person hood are two very different matters. The human ovum (egg) is already clearly alive when it enters the fallopian tubes, many hours or days before it has the opportunity to be fertilized. Women release one about each month between puberty and menopause - a few hundred in a lifetime. Almost all of these are destined to die and be ejected from the body. Unless a couple is having difficulty conceiving, very little thought is given to these hundreds of deaths. Although the ovum is a form of life, there is a consensus that it is not a human person.

Hundreds of millions of male sperm are liberated during a typical sexual encounter -- a sufficient number to theoretically double the earth's human population in a week or two if each were used to fertilize a separate ovum. Sperm are also clearly alive. Viewing them under a microscope reveals them to be energetic swimmers. Essentially all of these will die within days. Again, unless infertility is a problem, little attention is given to these deaths. An average man produces thousands of sperm a second.

At most, a very few during his lifetime will contribute to the formation of a baby. The rest will die. Few men are consciously aware of the loss. Although sperm are very much alive and kicking, there is a consensus that they are not human persons. These are questions with philosophical, religious and political aspects. Science cannot contribute a great deal towards resolving them.

And because these questions have a religious component, there will always be a wide variety of beliefs among persons in different faith groups.