When does life begin?

For me that answer lies somewhere between a virus and a bacterium. When does human life begin is a trickier question. The questionable authority has a post from a more scientific standpoint, but though I wanted to be a scientist when I went off to college (started out double majoring in biology and chemistry to become a geneticist) I ended up in religious studies by the end of my undergraduate career.

And in religious studies (my B.A) or my Masters of Divinity the question of when does human life begin is one fraught with ambiguity. Even answering the question doesn't solve the question of whether abortion is right. Christians have answered the question is it right to take a human life in the affirmative many times. The theory of just war is one example. Allowing executions of criminals is another.

Then there are other questions. It's been said that abortion is unnatural, yet there are many women who have spontaneous abortions (to use the term the doctors gave when my mother miscarried). So abortion isn't as unnatural as all that. It's certainly much less complicated than a heart repair.

Is abortion good? I'd say 'no,' but that doesn't mean I think it should be illegal. It is a moral choice and not something about which society has any sort of agreement. Induced abortions are perhaps the best choice out of several bad choices.