The beginning of Life

              In a debate involving abortion, there are many points that are brought up, however, one of the central issues in this debate is “when does life begin?” The main aspects of this question are whether life begins at the moment of conception, or when a baby is born in order to classify abortion as murder or not. In our hectic society, there are several opinions about when life begins. Many societies and organizations around the world believe that life begins at the moment of fertilization/conception, while others have the belief that life begins when the baby has been born. Moreover, there are groups of people that believe life begins in a stage that occurs between the two major stages stated above. Some of these groups believe that life begins when the baby first moves in the womb of the woman, while some believe it begins when a fetus has the ability to survive outside the mother’s womb. What is stated above is what the majority of people in a secular world believe the beginning of life is. Religion, nonetheless, says something different than what most people in our society believe to be the beginning of life. The Roman Catholic Church believes that life begins at the moment of conception which is when a woman’s egg is fertilized by a man’s sperm. Buddhism, like Catholicism, states that human life starts at the moment of conception, just like in Hinduism which it is stated that the soul enters the womb at the time of conception. Judaism clearly states that life begins not at the moment of conception, but at the moment of birth, while in Islam teachings, it is taught that a soul enters the fetus at 120 days, not at the moment of conception. As mentioned above, different people in our society and the various religions in our world have different teachings and opinions about when life begins, which is why this debate will probably never be settled. However, one thing that all religions can agree on is that abortion is wrong and should be forbidden.