To start off, no, I do not believe in God. At least, not one of any organized or known religion. I do, however, believe in the moral value of a human life. Now, I know abortion is an extremely controversial topic, so naturally, I figured I'd have a go at it. So without any further ado, let's take a look at abortion and see if the law allowing it holds up to biology, logic, reason, and provides an acceptable/consistent moral code.

So the first and most obvious hurdle to overcome in this debate is Roe v. Wade. To give a brief synopsis, a pregnant woman named Jane Roe in 1973 sued along with other women against the enforcement of a Texas law that criminalized all abortion not made with a recommendation by a doctor for the purpose of saving the life of the mother. The Supreme Court ruled that the Texas laws were unconstitutional as it went against women's right to privacy. The court did not answer the question of when a life begins.

There are a couple of problems with this ruling that I will explain. First and foremost, the right to privacy does not supersede the 14th amendment to the Constitution which states, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Now, before everyone starts saying it is not a life, so, therefore, I am wrong...just wait. I'm getting there. For the time being, here is a rhetorical situation that explains my point of why the right to privacy does not rule over the aforementioned amendment.

Let's say you are having a dispute with your significant other and they are actively doing something with which you do not agree or works against your goals. Your relationship with your significant other is protected under your rights to privacy. For the purposes of this situation, you decide your best course of action is to kill your significant other. Does each of your rights to privacy condone this action? No, of course, it doesn't. Reason being that it is against the law to kill another human being unless it is an act of self-defense.

One could argue that defending your own self-interest with regards to your life could qualify, but then it becomes a question of reasonable methods. To what degree is said action appropriate for the defense of your own agency? In this case, the appropriate defense would be to leave them as it does not exceed the appropriate degree of responses.

If I change the scenario to a pregnant mother with an unwanted child, the Supreme Court says that this response does not exceed the threshold of acceptable actions. The reason this works is due to the Supreme Court's lack of ruling on when a life begins. To remedy this, we will look how biology classifies life and move forward from there.

According to the 11th edition of Campbell Biology, there are seven main characteristics of life:

1. Order

2. Regulation

3. Energy Processing

4. Evolutionary Adaptation

5. Response to the Environment

6. Reproduction

7. Growth and Development

Let's take these one at a time starting with order. When fertilization takes place, a cell is created. Within this cell are multiple organelles such as mitochondria, golgi body, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, nucleus, etc. All of these different organelles have their own unique function. These organelles cannot survive on their own, but when ordered together within a cell they allow it to function.

Next is regulation. There are different types of regulation in biology such as osmoregulation and chemoregulation (the ability to regulate chemicals). This essentially boils down to the term homeostasis or the ability of the cell/organism to maintain an optimal internal environment in response to changing external environments. Human zygotes are capable of maintaining homeostasis. If they weren't, every baby would be dead before they even begin to develop.

Third is energy processing. This refers to the subject in question's ability to convert the materials it brings in into energy for other biological processes. Energy processing allows the cell/organism to stay alive and function, as well as create new cells or parts. This is how the zygote continues to grow during development until it is capable of leaving the womb. All living organisms continue this process of metabolism throughout their lives.

Evolutionary Adaptation is fairly obvious in organisms that reproduce sexually like humans. The zygote contains an entirely unique genetic code that is one part mother and one part father. This genetic dice rolling produces differentiated offspring in the hopes that they will be more adapted/advanced than the parents. Hence why we are not clones of our parents.

Now there are different levels of responses to the environment depending on how far along the human is in development. We know that at its most basic cellular level the cell is capable of maintaining homeostasis. Without this regulation system, the cell would die as it would not be able to keep any materials inside or outside of itself. This response becomes more and more advanced as the zygote develops. According to a review from the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinics of North America, they state that "the fetus is clearly able to respond to various external stimuli." They go on to explain that, "The nature of the response is related to gestational age, intact neurologic function, and also the behavioral state of the fetus."

Reproduction does not just mean sexual reproduction. In this case, reproduction refers to the ability to perform cellular replication or in other words mitosis. From the moment of conception, the zygote begins the process of mitosis as it exponentially replicates itself and begins differentiating other cells to perform varying functions and create the base for all major organs.

The final characteristic needs very little explanation at this point. The growth and development of the zygote is demonstrated by the process of mitosis and energy processing. We can and have also observed these changes occurring in the womb from the moment of conception.

So we can conclusively state that a human zygote is a life.

But why does this matter? At this point, I have only proven that a human zygote is on the same level of life as a bacterium which we kill all the time. So what makes the zygote special?

Well according to John Locke, "when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another."

This is the fundamental philosophy for which our nation was built. Under the constitution, we cannot kill one another as we have inalienable rights as humans to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. This is because human beings have intrinsic moral value due to our autonomy. Our ability to think and reason allows us to make our own choices based upon those thoughts and reasoning.

While a human fetus may not be capable of acting out its autonomy, that is only because it is in development. It simply is not ready. That does not remove its protection as a human as we can back up its humanity using biology. We know that left to its natural processes, the zygote will become a fully developed baby. Aside from that, a one month old baby can take care of itself about as well as a fetus and it is considered a living being. This is an important connection as we must be consistent in our morality and application of the law.

In conclusion, the right to privacy is an insufficient justification and biological classifications deem a zygote as a life. Therefore, abortion is wrong as it is the unjustified termination of a human life against the principles of the constitution.

Special thanks to Connor Holzer for aiding me on the biological section of this argument.