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when does life begin section
{{cquote|"... abortion is to our time what slavery was to the 19th Century, and if anyone of conscience went anywhere in the 19th Century and did not confront the American people with the evil of slavery, then they were not doing what statesmanship required... Well, it's a part of her body utterly dependent on her body, not viable apart from her body. She has, therefore, absolute power over this being, and given that absolute power she has the absolute right to dispose of it according to her will. We don't recognize what that's saying? What that's saying is that power makes for right. Might makes for right. If I have you in my power, I may dispose of you and your life according to my will. And if that argument is now accepted, and we have embraced it as a fundamental principle of law, then we have rejected the right principle. For if our right, our most basic and conditional right, the right to life itself comes to us not from God but from our mother's choice, then there is no human right that transcends in its claim, human choice and human power. Abortion is the paradigm, the ultimate paradigm of despotism, tyranny, oppression, slavery, holocaust."
{{cquote|"... abortion is to our time what slavery was to the 19th Century, and if anyone of conscience went anywhere in the 19th Century and did not confront the American people with the evil of slavery, then they were not doing what statesmanship required... Well, it's a part of her body utterly dependent on her body, not viable apart from her body. She has, therefore, absolute power over this being, and given that absolute power she has the absolute right to dispose of it according to her will. We don't recognize what that's saying? What that's saying is that power makes for right. Might makes for right. If I have you in my power, I may dispose of you and your life according to my will. And if that argument is now accepted, and we have embraced it as a fundamental principle of law, then we have rejected the right principle. For if our right, our most basic and conditional right, the right to life itself comes to us not from God but from our mother's choice, then there is no human right that transcends in its claim, human choice and human power. Abortion is the paradigm, the ultimate paradigm of despotism, tyranny, oppression, slavery, holocaust."
-Alan Keyes, speech in San Francisco, March 3, 2003.<ref>[http://www.notable-quotes.com/a/abortion_quotes.html Abortion Quotes]. ''NotableQuotes.com''.</ref>}} Ultimately, every American has a responsibility to stand up for the rights of other Americans when they are being murdered - regardless of gender. And to say a mother should be able to murder her children whenever she feels like it, apart from the father's opinions, is simply wrong.
-Alan Keyes, speech in San Francisco, March 3, 2003.<ref>[http://www.notable-quotes.com/a/abortion_quotes.html Abortion Quotes]. ''NotableQuotes.com''.</ref>}} Ultimately, every American has a responsibility to stand up for the rights of other Americans when they are being murdered - regardless of gender. And to say a mother should be able to murder her children whenever she feels like it, apart from the father's opinions, is simply wrong.
==When Does Life Begin?==
Logically, we ought to be erring on the side of caution when potentially infringing on another person's inalienable right to life, rather than seeing how close we can come to committing murder without doing so. Abortion in the U.S. is legal in all 9 months (36 weeks) of pregnancy. According to Brian Clowes, Ph.D<ref>Clowes, Brian, PhD. 2001. [http://www.hli.org/index.php/the-facts-of-life/480?task=view The Facts of Life]. Ch. 12. Front Royal: Human Life International.
Also in: Sharing the Pro-Life Message. Chicago: Pro-Life Action League, 2009. Print.</ref>, as cited by the Pro-Life Action League<ref>(2009). [http://www.whyprolife.com/life-in-the-womb/ Sharing the Pro-Life Message]. "Life in the Womb." Pro-Life Action League. Chicago.</ref>, fetal development occurs as follows after conception:
* 2 weeks: First completed brain cells appear.
* 3 weeks: Heart begins beating, eyes form; brain, spinal column, and nervous system virtually complete.
* 4 weeks: Muscle development, arm and leg buds visible, neocortical cells appear, blood flows in baby's veins separate from mother's blood.
* 5 weeks: Pituitary gland forms, mouth, ears, and nose take shape.
* 6 weeks: Brain waves can be detected.
* 7 weeks: Cartilage skeleton completely formed, umbilical cord complete, brain coordinates voluntary muscle movement and involuntary organ movement, lips sensitive to touch.
* 8 weeks: Based on nervous system development, a fetus can likely feel pain, teeth present, all organs present save lungs, taste buds and fingerprints forming, responds to tapping on amniotic sac.
* 9 weeks: Fingernails form, can bend its fingers around an object and suck its thumb.
* 10 weeks: All parts of body sensitive to touch; can swallow, squint, frown, and pucker brow.
* 11 weeks: Breathing amniotic fluid and does so constantly until birth, urination, all facial expressions (including smiling) possible, taste buds complete.
* 12 weeks: Can kick, turn over, make a fist, hiccup, cry, open its mouth, press its lips together, and practice breathing.
* 13 weeks: All senses are present, including vocal chords.
* 20 weeks: Can be surprised by loud external noises.
* 23 weeks: A fetus demonstrates REM (Rapid Eye Movement).
* 4 months: Can grasp, swim, and turn somersaults.
* 6 months: Hair growth on head and eyebrows, eyelashes form.
* 7 months: A fetus' hands can support its entire weight.
* 8 months: Fetus weighs more than 4 lbs., all body systems present.
* 9 months: After this point, the fetus gains a half lb. each week and 41 of the 45 total generations of cell replication have already taken place.
{{cquote|"Modern biology instructs that the genetic code that will dictate the entire future of the fetus is formed as early as the ___ day after conception; the fetus is thus something more than inert matter. The rules of property and of tort have come increasingly to recognize its rights."
-Judge Henry Friendly, [[Hall v. Lefkowitz]].<ref name=friendly>Randolph, A. Raymond. "[http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jlpp/Vol29_No3_Randolph.pdf Before Roe v. Wade: Judge Friendly's Draft Abortion Opinion]." ''Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy''. Vol. 29.</ref>}}
==History==
==History==