May 4, 2006

• School's Out . . . School's In.
  Last night was the final exam.  I've spent most of the day mowing
  and the rest grading the tests.  I've still got some calculating
  to do regarding final grades.  So in that respect: School's Out!
  But school is in.  I received the acceptance letter to the
  master's program in bioethics at Loyola University in Chicago
  today.  So school is about to start in a big way for me this
  fall.  I'm looking forward to it.  Maintaining120 commented
  that I must be ambitious.  No, there's just too much living to be
  done in the days we're given and I want to cram as much as possible in those days.  But I wish you would come down and
  take my anatomy class just for shits and giggles.  Those things
  tend to happen in my class and Columbus isn't that far from Indy.
  Below is the paper I had to submit for the Loyola program.  It's
  about two and a half pages.  If you have no interest in when human
  life begins . . . where we actually believe it begins, then this will
  be boring and you should probably pass it up.  But if a critical
  look at where we as human beings actually believe that human life
  starts interests you, then you might find a new perspective in my
  thoughts.  I wrote this just because these ideas were in my head
  and needed to be set free.  It just so happened that Loyola needed
  a sample of my writing so I sent them this:

  What Can Early Pregnancy Tests Tell Us About Our Attitudes
  Concerning The Actual Beginning of the Life of a Human Being?
  

  A common belief among those opposed to abortion is that
  human life begins at conception and that abortion therefore ends a human life and
  is murder.  If one believes that the
  fertilized egg, or zygote, is a fully vested human being and deserving of all
  of the rights and protections accorded any other human being then this is a
  reasonable position.  But does our
  behavior demonstrate that this is actually our belief?
  

  I will accept up front that biological human life begins
  with the zygote.  Before oocyte
  fertilization by sperm, the genetic combination that may become a particular
  living human being does not exist, and every human that does exist starts as a
  zygote.  What I am exploring here is the
  question; when do we as a society, as demonstrated by our behavior, really
  believe that a human life deserving the rights and protections of all human
  beings begin?  I will use the terms human
  being and human life to refer to a human that is fully vested and deserving of
  all rights generally accorded to humans.
  

  The path from zygote to a human being separate from the
  mother is fraught with hurdles.  While
  estimates and results of studies vary, it is likely that only about 30% of
  zygotes survive to delivery.  The
  majority of these non-viable early pregnancies are simply passed in a normal or
  somewhat late menstrual period, and often there is no knowledge that a
  pregnancy has occurred.  Once a zygote divides
  a few times and becomes a blastocyst and implants itself in the uterus the odds
  of making it to delivery increase significantly, but about 25% of those will be
  lost before 6 weeks.  Subsequent to
  implantation the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), the hormone used
  to identify the pregnant state, begins to be produced.  Before the days of highly sensitive home
  pregnancy tests most prospective parents had no idea that an egg had been
  fertilized and implanted in the uterus until a menstrual period had been missed.  Currently however, many prospective parents
  know that a developing pregnancy has commenced up to six days before the
  menstrual period is due to begin.   When
  these pregnancies that we have knowledge of, fail to progress and the menstrual
  period begins either on time or somewhat late, we know that  a blastocyst at least, has failed to
  survive.  But do we believe that a human
  being has died?
  

  It is these failed pregnancies that we have knowledge of
  that offer insight into what we really believe concerning the beginning of
  human life. 
  

  A human being has certain rights, as does the family of that
  human being.  The family and society also
  has responsibilities regarding a dead human being.  If one believes that a human life begins with
  fertilization of the oocyte, the rights of that zygote, including the
  protection of that life, and the responsibilities we incur as a society for
  that life and subsequent death, should be no different than for any other human
  being.  We of course don't know about the
  majority of zygotes that never implant and begin producing HCG.  But one day we likely will find a measure for
  that stage and this moral and societal question will become greatly expanded.
  

  A few of the implications of a true belief that a human life
  begins at conception will now be considered.
  

  If we truly believe that full humanity begins at conception
  it would follow that some sort of certificate of life should be issued as soon
  as a pregnancy test turns positive.  A
  birth certificate is not appropriate since birth has not occurred but some sort
  of declaration of the beginning of life should be generated by an appropriate
  government body.  This declaration of life
  would give the blastocyst and parents important rights.  It would also give the parents and the
  government certain responsibilities.
  

  Perhaps the most important right would be protection of the
  blastocyst from abortion (murder).  This
  is an ongoing issue of debate and contention in the United States.
  

  Another important right would be access to health care.  Many health insurance plans, including
  Medicaid place significant restrictions on care for the unborn.  In utero surgical procedures, such as
  treatment for spina bifida and certain heart defects, the equivalent of which
  would be provided for those that have already gone through the birth process, are
  often not covered. Providing the earliest identifiable life the same status as
  others on the health plan would allow them equal access to interventional
  procedures that any child or adult has access. 
  This of course would significantly increase health care costs to society.  To my knowledge, no health insurance plan
  recognizes the zygote as a member of that plan though most allow for prenatal
  care for the mother.  From an insurance
  standpoint we do not consider the first several cells, embryo and even early
  fetus as a human being.  But if we as a
  society believe this to be true, then a certificate of life should be issued
  upon learning of a positive pregnancy test.
  

  Parents incur considerable expense while raising a child and
  this is recognized by the government in the form of a tax deduction.  If we believe a zygote is a fully moral human
  being then tax consideration should begin as soon as implantation occurs and
  HCG is detected.  If a pregnancy test
  turns positive on say, January 6^th, it could safely be assumed that
  the new human being was actually formed in the previous year and the tax
  consideration would need to be adjusted as such.  While the expenses incurred during the
  prenatal period (Lamaze classes, prenatal vitamins, etc.) are not as
  significant as those incurred in the postnatal period, they are nonetheless
  real.
  

  While there is recognition of the embryo as a fully vested
  human being by the federal government and in many states in criminal matters
  that result in the death of the mother, in the regard of tax consideration we
  do not recognize the zygote, blastocyst, or any stage of the unborn as a human
  being in the United States.  There is, to my knowledge, no serious
  movement to do so.  Only when it comes to
  funding abortions and stem cell research does the federal government consider
  the zygote a fully vested U.S.
  citizen.
  

  At the other end of life, the death of a human being also
  brings about certain responsibilities, legal requirements and customs.
  

  When a human being dies a death certificate is issued.  A death certificate documents the legal end
  of that life.  Death certificates are not
  issued in the United States
  when a blastocyst that has generated positive HCG levels fails to survive.  Judging someone to be a fully vested, living
  human being and not issuing a death certificate when that life ends, including
  those which we know have lived only a few days seems at best to be bad
  government record keeping.
  

  The end of a human life usually results in such customs as a
  funeral, wake, memorial service, etc. 
  While the onset of a menstrual period in one that knows they have been
  pregnant might be greeted with sadness and even depression, just as some are
  surely greeted with relief and happiness, it is rare that any of the above
  customs are initiated, especially in the case of a pregnancy of a few
  days.  In this regard we overwhelmingly
  do not regard the several day pregnancy as a human being.
  

  There are also legal issues regarding the disposition of a
  human corpse.  In the United States a
  corpse must be cremated, buried or similarly interned.  In some cases a burial at sea may be
  appropriate.  For want of a less
  descriptive phrase; flushing a corpse down a toilet is neither appropriate nor
  legal.  This is however, the disposition
  of approximately 70% of zygotes including the smaller percentage whose life has
  been documented by a positive pregnancy test. 
  In the United States
  we do not prosecute those that have however inadvertently, disposed of an early
  gestation (corpse) in such a manner.
  

  Our ability to detect pregnancies before a missed menstrual
  period, during a time of considerable risk to the nascent human, appears to
  have shed considerable light on our true beliefs concerning the beginning of
  human life.

   

  • 5:44 pm
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