Why It's So Important To Understand That Life Does NOT Begin At Conception

Although men won't admit it, the overturning of Roe is based on a faulty premise men held for thousands of years. It was thoroughly debunked, then rose from the ashes to the detriment of women.

Image by anncapictures from Pixabay

Most liberals live under the belief and continue to perpetuate the notion that conservative Christians don’t believe in science. What is true is that most conservative Christians, just like Liberals, readily jump on any scientific fact (or theory) that supports their personal beliefs. Go to almost any anti-abortion website and you’ll find staunch rhetoric stating that the “science is clear” that life begins at conception.

The science says no such thing.

Anti-abortion websites will wax poetic about all of the physical characteristics that begin to quickly develop in a zygote (fertilized egg) such as a heartbeat or fingernails, but perhaps my favorite claim is that a zygote is “indisputably human, as it has human DNA.” Sperm also have DNA, so if DNA were the gold standard for determining personhood, then men would all be guilty of murder for “aborting” their sperm. Like so many patriarchal beliefs, however, this idea that “life begins at conception” has absolutely no basis in science, but it is deeply rooted in man’s ego. Man’s idea that he, not woman, is actually the genesis of life.

Around 500 BC, Pythagorus was the first to propose a theory that later came to be known as preformationism. The theory is that sperm actually contain a fully formed human that a man places inside of a woman and she is nothing more than a mere incubator. Given man’s historical disdain for women, it should come as no surprise that man declared himself to be the genesis of all life very early on and perpetuated that notion for centuries. In 300 BC, Aristotle spread this idea further, introducing it to Europe, where it was then spread even further throughout Europe by early physicians such as Galen, Realdo Colombo and Giralamo Fabrici.

Given that all philosophers, historians and physicians were all men, it should also come as no surprise that this theory continued to be the prevailing wisdom for close to 2,000 years. In fact, the theory of preformation was only further cemented in the 17th and 18th centuries, when scientists discovered tiny wing-like structures in dissected chicken embryos and caterpillars, which seemed to enlarge as the animals developed.

In 1651, however, William Harvey became the first to suggest that sperm were not actually the genesis of life, but eggs. This theory was called epigenesis, meaning that the genesis of life was from an egg not a sperm. At that time, however, microscopes were not powerful enough to view gametes, so his work remained largely theoretical. As science advanced, including the tools with which to study life at a cellular level, it was Harvey’s theory, not Pythagorus’ that turned out to be correct. In spite of this, however, men continue to have a persistent and irrational belief in their own overestimated role in procreation.

“Life begins at conception” is an expression of preformation.

It wasn’t until 1801 that epigenesis was unquestionably proven, but that does not mean that men readily accepted or perpetuated it. Since men have traditionally been the only source of accepted wisdom, if they weren’t spreading the idea widely, it simply wasn’t getting spread. If it isn’t spread, it never takes root, which means it is as if the information simply does not exist.

This is how theories that have been soundly debunked still manage to circulate through the collective conscious as if they were fact. Ideas are like viruses, they need a host that travels extensively or has a vast network in order to spread effectively but how well they “stick” depends largely on how receptive to the idea the host is. Just like with viruses, some ideas are also spread by superspreaders and those are generally the ones that “stick”. Also like a virus, once it’s out there, it’s nearly impossible to kill entirely and every so often a new wave will start spreading again.

As much as men like to claim they believe things “cuz science;” the truth is, they much more readily believe any scientific “fact” that supports their own presuppositions about the world and reject any that do not. And because men write all the books and make all the laws, if they don’t believe something is true then it might as well not be.

Eventually, however, epigenesis gained acceptance. Up until the 1970’s it was actually fairly widely accepted and established that life began when a baby took its first breath. It was even accepted based on Biblical grounds, since Adam’s life began when God first breathed life into him. It should come as no surprise, however, that it was religious men that reintroduced the idea that life began at conception - which other men readily latched onto because of how neatly it fits into their preconceived notions of their own importance in procreation.

Psychology has shown us that no matter how completely and totally an idea may be disproven by science, people may continue to cling to it for other reasons entirely. In fact, the more evidence people are presented with that conflicts with their belief, the deeper they will dig their heels in to cling to their beliefs in order to avoid something called cognitive dissonance.

I believe this is how the idea that life begins at conception spread so readily. Because men desperately want to believe that they are far more important to the process of procreation than they actually are. No matter how much science you show them to the contrary, it doesn’t matter. They believe it because they want it to be true. They won’t even admit that they believe it, they will just simply claim that the science supports their belief and label anything that disproves their beliefs as “misinformation”.

Human beings do not, in fact, develop from a sperm but from an egg.

Today we know a sperm does not contain a tiny human, but is in fact merely the “fertilizer” for an egg, which a woman then grows into a human being. Until then, it is simply tissue - namely, the woman’s own tissue.

If a woman has to literally grow a human, meaning a full human has to be formed in her womb rather than being deposited there by a man, then what she has in her uterus is not yet a human. During gestation, the tissue in a woman’s womb is just that - her tissue. From a legal standpoint, there is no difference between that tissue and a cancerous tumor. Even from a biological standpoint, what is in a woman’s uterus is literally nothing more than tissue for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. It’s not even until 10 weeks in that it’s even considered to be a fetus, let alone a baby.

This idea that removing a zygote is killing a baby comes from this idea that a man plants a fully formed human into a woman. What’s interesting is that if you ask a man who is opposed to abortion, he will probably tell you he knows that a man does not plant a fully formed human into a woman, yet he will also tell you he believes life begins at conception. Which is cognitive dissonance.

We can, in fact, hold two conflicting beliefs quite easily as long as they fit neatly into how we desire to see the world and our place in it. It appeals to a man’s ego to believe that he is the most important element in the genesis of life, not woman. Therefore, most men will believe that life begins at conception - or the minute their sperm enters the picture.

Men continue to argue their own “legal” right to have a say in procreational decisions, yet it cannot be argued that a man can deposit a sperm, go his merry way and spend the rest of his life never knowing if he procreated or not. The same cannot be said for a woman. If a woman has sex and becomes pregnant, her life will be altered forever. If she decides to have the child, she not only has to endure nine months of pain and discomfort but her literal chances of dying increase exponentially.

If she chooses to have an abortion instead, she may spend the rest of her life battling any number of resultant mental and emotional health issues. If the abortion doesn’t go well, she may never have another child. If she miscarries, she still has all of the heightened pregnancy hormones running through her, which can also heighten her sense of loss, which can in turn leave a permanent scar on her psyche.

So although women have to carry all of the consequences of pregnancy, a large number of men continue to believe that they should have an equal say in procreational choices. That is literally the equivalent of saying that if a rancher sells, gives or donates a load of cow manure to a farmer to fertilize his crops, he should then have equal rights to whatever crops the farmer raises. Or, someone that sells or gives a farmer seeds should then be entitled to at least half of the subsequent crop. Women do not simply “incubate” a human being, they literally create it out of their own flesh. Flesh that does not belong to anyone else and that no one else is entitled to have any rights over, whatsoever.

The moment a man deposits his sperm in a woman is literally the only point in the entire 9-month gestation period in which men have any involvement whatsoever. It is on the basis of this completely painless interaction (to them) which can literally take less than a few seconds that they feel gives them the right to have an equal say in everything that happens after that. This is why it is so important for women to understand and reject the notion that life begins at conception. Although this idea has not officially been codified into federal law, it is the basis on which almost all abortion laws are founded and it is not even scientifically accurate!

What is ironic about this whole situation is that it is almost always religious men that fight the hardest to protect their patriarchal rights. Yet religious men obviously believe in God and most of them even claim to believe in the sovereignty of God. If they actually believed in the true sovereignty of God, however, then they would also have to believe that if God gave women the ability to bear children and not men, it was for a reason. Like perhaps God decided that women were better suited to make choices regarding the future of mankind than men. But that is a reality that men just can’t handle, so instead they just keep trying to create loopholes to give themselves the right to make those choices. Which is, quite frankly, hypocritical.

Although we may never convince religious men that life does not begin at conception, thankfully, the science at least is on our side. Therefore, we need to work instead to overturn laws which are based on this faulty belief which is actually contradicted by, rather than supported by, science.

Post Note:

A reader brought up a very interesting point in the comments. Religious zealots have gotten us so focused on debating a specific origin point to life that they’ve made us completely lose focus on reality (as they often do). Life doesn’t actually begin it perpetuates. One living being literally creates life from their own living cells and tissues. So one life simply perpetuates another life. Life doesn’t “begin” in the womb since the life that creates that life is already alive.