Taxonomy

Hidden but still felt.

Today, the Church commemorates the Day of the Unborn Child and urges its members to be the voice of the unborn child, who does not have a voice. I dare say that the sanctity of life is universal but it is the definition of "life" that remains controversial. Does a human life begin in the womb or only after a certain period in the womb or only upon leaving the womb? I take the stand that life begins in the womb upon fertilization and that a life is a life; there are no sub-categories of life form within the human species. Any draftsman worth his salt will know that the crafting of definitions must be done with care as there will be ripple effects in the use of such poorly defined terms. To define life as requiring certain cognitive functions or certain physiological functions, in essence functions that a fetus lacks, has repercussions beyond the womb. Lest we forget that the Jewish Holocaust arose out of the definition of a people being physiologically and mentally "lacking", "inferior" or "inadequate".