Thread by @emilyjoypoetry

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS REAL DEAR GOD

https://twitter.com/revsethdub/status/1317517080229367808

Okay I'm supposed to be writing a paper right now so I have time

Number one. There is no scientific consensus on "when life begins" because the question of "when life begins" is primarily a spiritual/theological question, not a scientific one. Really all depends on what we mean by "life," the various beliefs on the existence of a "soul," etc.

There IS scientific consensus on when ~pregnancy~ begins, and that is when a fertilized egg (sperm cell + egg), called a zygote, implants on the uterine wall of the person with a womb. Pregnancy does not begin when fertilization occurs, because:

It's not possible to know the exact numbers, but some estimates are that up to HALF of zygotes fail to implant on the uterine wall and therefore get re-absorbed by the body without the womb-owning person ever even knowing that conception had occurred. guttmacher.org/gpr/2005/05/im…

So pregnancy begins when the zygote implants on the uterine wall. If the zygote does not implant on the uterine wall, there is no pregnancy, and a lot of times that just happens. The body just ~does~ that sometimes, all on its own. All good so far?

Now going back to the soul question. If pro-lifers truly believe that "life begins at conception," and if half of all conceived zygotes fail to implant and are re-absorbed by the body that's *does the math* millions and billions of human souls that exist for a few hours and "die"

NOW. If pro-lifers really believed that each and every one of those zygotes was a human soul as they claim, then they would be fighting for free birth control for every person who can get pregnant because birth control in many cases stops ovulation. No egg, no zygote, no soul.

But that's just run-of-the-mill "pro-life" hypocrisy in general. Let's talk specifically about Shane Claiborne and this twitter poll.

First, running a poll like this with as big of a following as Claiborne has is downright irresponsible. It's like a running poll asking people to vote on whether they think COVID is a hoax or climate change isn't occurring, as if those positions are scientifically legitimate.

Second, the Christian supremacy is just LEAPING out. Other religions and specifically Judaism have LONG had broad, diverse, theologically informed understandings of at what point in a pregnancy "life" starts. And again that's a theological question not a scientific one.

Third, folks like Claiborne are fond of calling themselves "consistently pro-life," right? They're like, "I'm anti-war and anti-death penalty AND anti-abortion! I'm consistent!"

The thing is, being anti-choice is quite literally not being pro-life. I don't desire to "reclaim" the term "pro-life" because it's been bastardized beyond redemption imo but good god, anti-abortion policies harm human lives deeply, measurably, widely, and gruesomely.

Do some research. I'm not making a claim about "when life begins" because my personal theological framework does not allow for fundamentalist certainly about such immense questions, but check out the CONSEQUENCES of these theologies. Sit with questions. The discomfort.

As a side bar, I wanted to make a comment about this tweet which I'm so glad was brought up

https://twitter.com/eacox24/status/1317575307281485826?s=20

YES. So sometimes zygotes implant somewhere that is not the uterine wall. They're still not called a pregnancy until that implantation occurs, but that does happen. An ectopic pregnancy is not a viable pregnancy — and moreover, they are extremely dangerous to the pregnant person.

So EVEN IF a pro-life person decided that life begins at implantation rather than conception, what about ectopic pregnancies? It's okay to have an abortion in that instance? Even though the implantation has already occurred? What determines who gets an exception?

It all falls apart when you start to think about the actual human beings who need abortions and not the fabricated scare-statistics the pro-life movement peddles. So often theoretical children have been used as excuses to screw over the people standing right in front of us.

Shane Claiborne's Twitter poll cannot possibly be answered and any book that pretends it can will be theologically, scientifically and morally bankrupt. Now find your local Planned Parenthood & make a donation in honor of our "consistently pro-life" friend plannedparenthood.org/health-center

My apologies for any typos, I can’t spell when I’m angry or basically since like month three of the pandemic