THE BIG ISSUE

We’re swimming in the deep end now. Gone is the shallow end of the pool, where our feet can firmly touch the bottom. There’s no question of what happens biologically during the development of an embryo, but there are many questions about what happens philosophically during that same period. 

There’s been a lot of moral controversy surrounding various topics in reproduction. These include methods of contraception (birth control), abortion, in vitro fertilization, and stem cell research, among others. We’ll get to all those individually, but they all essentially boil down to one common denominator. This is the issue of personhood. As we’ve said, the big question is this: when has a new person begun? That’s what this next section hinges on. 

Personhood, for our purposes, is the essence of what it means to be human. It’s not just possessing a physical body but having a soul. It encompasses all the non-physical stuff of our being. We’ll explore various answers to when personhood begins by examining the Bible, logic, historical perspectives, and various common viewpoints. However, throughout this discussion, keep in mind that nobody knows for sure when a person begins. Everyone seems to have an opinion about it, but God alone knows the truth. As humans, we try to grasp God’s truth but ultimately fail to comprehend it completely because we don’t have his perspective (Is 55:8-9; Is 40:13-14). And yet, we should strive to pursue God’s ultimate truth, even if it’s not possible for us to fully understand. 

Every couple must draw their own line in the sand, so to speak. That is, you have to decide with your spouse when you think personhood begins, based on sound information and reasoning. As with the prior section, if this issue isn’t a big deal to you, move on. Skip to the third section of this book and pick a method of birth control that is the most convenient for you. No problem. Breathe easy and use birth control with a clear conscience. 

However, if this issue is a big deal to you, consider all of the perspectives discussed here, pick the one that you feel best represents your understanding and act accordingly. Nobody can make the decision for you, nor can anyone tell you it’s right or wrong. This is between you and your spouse. And God. Do your best, then walk forward guilt-free. 

It's important to keep in mind that not everyone will have the same convictions as you. Paul talked about this sort of thing in Romans 14. Controversial moral topics in the first century church included eating certain foods and which day of the week should be considered the Sabbath. 

One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only… One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. (Rom 14:2,5a)

In the early church, not everyone agreed on all moral issues, even when the Bible explicitly took a side (i.e. the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments). So too today. This principle of differing convictions can be extrapolated to many other ethical issues, with people (and some churches) taking different sides on what should be considered right or wrong. In the last century, controversial topics included alcohol use, dancing, women’s swimwear, and rock & roll music. These days, it’s more like marijuana use, veganism, vaccinations, and gun ownership. Likewise, some methods of birth control can be morally controversial among Christians. There are strong Christians who feel free to use any method, while others feel some are sinful and blatantly contravene God’s laws. The debates can get heated. However, every couple needs to make an informed decision that agrees with their personal convictions. If you have no problem with a particular method, use it with a clear conscience.

Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. (Rom 14:5b)

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. (Rom 14:22)

However, if a particular method doesn't sit well with you, listen to your conscience and steer clear. If in doubt, avoid it. 

He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. (Rom 14:23)

Also, please be careful about passing judgment on others who feel differently than you do. 

Accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. (Rom 14:1)

Why do you judge your brother? Why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. (Rom 14:10)

In the end, we answer to God, not others, as the Bible says, “the one who examines me is the Lord” (1 Cor 4:4).

With that in mind, let’s explore these ethical issues with an open mind. As we discussed previously, it all depends on when you think personhood begins.

TWO REQUIRED STEPS

Two things are absolutely required to make a baby: fertilization and implantation. One without the other won’t allow for reproduction. Ever. Both are essential (1).

First, fertilization is a requirement for reproduction. A sperm fertilizes an egg, new DNA is created, and new life begins to grow. 

Second, implantation is a requirement for reproduction. An embryo must implant in a uterus for development to progress beyond the earliest stages. Contrary to what you’ve seen in the movies, a baby can never be grown in a lab. Fertilization may occur outside a womb, but in order to progress beyond the blastocyst stage, an embryo must implant. Babies being grown in a lab is completely fictional. A functional placenta, which only develops after implantation, is an absolute requirement for reproduction.

WHEN PERSONHOOD BEGINS

There’s a whole spectrum of beliefs about when personhood begins. We won’t go into all of them here, but we’ll explore some of the most common ones. All make sense on some level, and all have challenges.

At Birth

Genesis states that “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). So does personhood begin at birth, when a baby takes its first breath?

This is the current basis of criminal law. A fetus doesn’t hold the same rights as a baby. In some countries, assault of a pregnant woman, even if it equally harms her fetus, is considered a crime against only one person, not two. There’s some consideration for a fetus becoming injured before birth if it proceeds to be born alive, but if the fetus dies before birth (i.e. a miscarriage), it has no rights. However, other countries (and also the Bible (Ex 21:22)) have laws explicitly protecting the rights of unborn children. Either way, a fetus must be completely independent of its mother to be considered a baby, that is, a full-fledged person with the full rights of anyone else on earth – the umbilical cord must be cut, the lungs must be full of air. 

This legal definition of personhood doesn’t seem right to many people. Why should a fetus not hold the rights of a baby breathing on its own? The two states may be only moments apart. Does the soul enter the body only when the first breath is taken? 

Many would argue it happens long before. 

Mothers often claim they knew the personality of their baby well before they were born – strong-willed or easy-going, restless or content. The characteristics we see in adults are often present at birth, and even before birth. 

The Bible also suggests personhood begins before birth. 

The Lord called me from the womb, and from the body of my mother he named me. (Is 49:1)

Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. (Jer 1:5)

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. (Lk 1:15)

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb. (Lk 1:41)

When God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace… (Gal 1:15)

It’s clear that God knew us before we were born, which suggests we had a soul and a personality that could be known. 

Let’s re-examine Genesis 2:7. Can becoming “a living soul” occur before the process of breathing “into his nose the breath of life”? After all, the way Adam was formed from the dust is quite a bit different from how the rest of us were formed in the womb. 

Personhood beginning before birth is suggested both by the Bible and basic reasoning. This viewpoint is not fact, but it’s intuitive. Regardless of what the law states, it seems like our souls are with us well before we’re born. 

However, exactly when we become “living souls” is open to debate.

Fertilization

Undoubtedly, biological life begins at fertilization. The sperm and egg unite to form a new set of genetic material (DNA). Immediately, the zygote begins replicating independently of its parents. This is one of the most popular milestones for when personhood begins, and for good reason: the embryo is a brand-new creature, at least physically.

One of the challenges with personhood beginning at fertilization is the vast number of fertilized eggs that fail to implant. There’s no way to know the exact number, but for sexually active couples not using birth control, an egg likely gets fertilized during most (if not all) menstrual cycles. However, due to any number of issues, the embryo doesn’t always implant in the uterine lining. Most commonly, the timing of fertilization was too late – if fertilization occurs a number of days after ovulation, the embryo isn’t ready for implantation by the time it reaches the uterus. In this case, the new “person” would be flushed out of the uterus with the woman’s next period. Arguably, more fertilized eggs fail to implant than actually cause pregnancies. So, if personhood begins at fertilization, the majority of “people” would never make it past existing as a tiny cluster of cells (morula) before being expelled from the uterus and dying. 

This presents some challenges. Why would God create the majority of people just to live a few days as a featureless collection of cells? Do they all go to heaven? Hell? Are they even people at all? 

Another challenge is that of identical twins, which arise from a division of a single embryo. Their DNA is the same. After they split, they develop independently of each other. But if personhood begins at fertilization, are there two souls within that single first cell (zygote)? Or do they become individual people upon splitting? Or is the embryo a single person until the split, and then the second embryo becomes a person as well?

The answers to these questions are virtually unknowable, but just because we don’t understand the reasoning of God doesn’t mean it may not be true. However, such existential questions pose a logical challenge to the idea that personhood begins at fertilization.

Implantation

Implantation is the second critical step in the development of a new baby. If implantation doesn’t occur, the embryo doesn’t move past the blastocyst stage. Ever. So, is implantation when an embryo becomes a person? 

Perhaps. Consider the most famous prenatal passage in the Bible:

For you created my inward parts; you wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made… My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance. (Ps 139:13-16)

Now, let’s go out on a limb – bear with me as we explore this passage. One could argue that David talks about “parts” being woven together, implying that there are different parts in the developing body. An embryo at the morula stage is just a cluster of cells, all of which are the same. No “parts,” just one “part.” However, an embryo at the blastocyst stage has different layers of cells, thus it has “parts” that can be woven together. This is right around the time of implantation. So does this passage suggest personhood begins at implantation when the embryo has different parts? Not really – such logic is a stretch. One could conversely argue that each cell is a “part” of the whole. Also, just because this passage potentially discusses a time after fertilization doesn’t mean he wasn’t a person beforehand. Also, it’s highly unlikely King David had extensive knowledge of early fetal development when he wrote Psalm 139. The Psalms aren’t science textbooks, they’re poetry. Thus, to use this passage to imply personhood begins at a certain time is most likely an inappropriate interpretation. 

Of all the occurrences of pregnancy in the Bible, most are vague as to specifying when exactly personhood begins, whether at fertilization, implantation, or another time. The only possible exception is Ecclesiastes 6. This passage talks about the futility of life for the man who doesn’t have the ability to enjoy good things in life, that it would be better if he was never born. 

Better the miscarriage than he, for it comes in vanity and leaves darkness. Its name is covered in darkness…. Do not all go to one place? (Ecc 6:3-6)

Remember from the last section that pregnancy refers to the changes a mother experiences after an embryo implants and starts interacting with her. Therefore, a miscarriage can only occur after implantation, once a pregnancy has been established. In this passage, the writer suggests that the one who “lives a thousand years twice” and the one who “never sees the sun” (i.e. a fetus that dies before birth) both have a soul that will exist for eternity. So does this mean implantation is a requirement for personhood? Again, the argument is weak and such an implication is way out of context. In the end, all we can be sure of is that the Bible strongly suggests human life – in the fullest sense of the word – begins sometime before birth. But when exactly that occurs is open to interpretation.

There are logical challenges with the view that personhood begins at implantation too. What about pregnancies that don’t have a chance at surviving until birth? A normal human cell has 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. The majority of first trimester miscarriages occur because of major chromosomal abnormalities. That is, the sperm or the egg contributes an extra chromosome to the genetic profile, or is missing a full chromosome, or has an extra half-set of chromosomes. These major genetic abnormalities aren’t compatible with life. What about those pregnancies? They had unique DNA (albeit abnormal), and the embryo successfully implanted and started developing further, but there was no chance of survival till birth. Were those people too? Probably. The lack of survivability doesn’t negate personhood: if a fetus with a devastating placenta defect died around birth, we wouldn’t doubt it was still “fully alive” beforehand.

There’s also the case of ectopic pregnancies. This is when an embryo implants itself somewhere other than the inside of the uterus. It can be in a fallopian tube (most common), the cervix, fimbriae, an ovary, or elsewhere in the abdomen (rare). Only a uterus can support a growing fetus, and implantation anywhere else will not survive until birth (2). Indeed, the mother’s life is in danger if she doesn’t receive urgent medical attention to terminate the pregnancy. Does the fetus of an ectopic pregnancy have a soul? It has gone through fertilization and has new DNA. It has implanted (albeit in the wrong place) and started developing further beyond the blastocyst state. An early placenta forms. Is the fetus of an ectopic pregnancy a person? 

In all of these cases – abnormal DNA and abnormal implantation – the fetus doesn’t even have a chance at life outside the womb. Should we consider them people? The Bible seems to suggest so, but it’s not clear.

During Pregnancy

As we’ve seen, according to the Bible and basic logic, it’s reasonable to conclude that personhood begins before birth. Many people feel this way. However, if personhood doesn’t begin at the moment of fertilization or implantation, there are various other milestones during pregnancy that could be considered the beginning of personhood. 

Before we get into that, we should talk about fetal age. Embryonic and gestational age aren’t the same thing. Embryonic (or fetal) age refers to the age of the developing baby from the moment of fertilization. That’s Day 1. Gestational age, however, starts counting the age of a fetus based on the mother’s menstrual cycle. Day 1 is the same Day 1 of your cycle – the first day of your period. In a typical cycle, fertilization occurs on Day 14. Even though the embryo is actually brand new (embryonic age Day 1), the gestational age is 14 days. Embryonic age and gestational age are two weeks apart. Likewise, implantation occurs around Week 1 embryonically, but Week 3 gestationally. Doctors predominantly use gestational age to talk about pregnancy. Your estimated due date is 40 weeks after the first day of your last period, which corresponds to an embryonic age of 38 weeks. 

When we’re discussing early fetal development in this book, we use embryonic age (starts with fertilization) when referring to the first few weeks after the sperm and egg come together. In the odd instance we discuss full term babies, or anything out of the first trimester, we’ll use gestational age (starts at your period). We’ll try to clarify if there’s any confusion, like in this instance where we list milestones in embryonic age early on, but switch to gestational age when the baby becomes viable outside the womb (around 24 weeks gestational age, 22 weeks embryonic age).

This can be terribly confusing for the general public. So, on behalf of the entire worldwide medical community, I apologize.

Now, back to when personhood begins. Here are some of the major developmental milestones during pregnancy:

Week 3: heart begins to beat

Week 6: organized brain activity

Week 9: movements of muscles (not purposeful); major organ systems formed; embryo now called a fetus

Week 12: swallowing; movement of muscles (purposeful)

Week 21-22: viability (the baby can survive with full medical care if born this early)

Week 37: considered full term

Week 40: official due date

Any given milestone, or more, could be considered the beginning of personhood. The Bible suggests that personhood begins before birth, but it doesn’t say exactly when a developing baby gets a soul. 

Take your pick. Again, your informed choice is as good as any.

After Birth

In contrast to personhood beginning well before birth, some early societies didn’t consider babies to be fully valued people until well after birth. This was likely due to high infant mortality. Even up until the 1900s, about a third of babies didn’t survive until their second birthday. Infection was the primary cause of early childhood death; accidental deaths (falls, fire, drowning) were common too. Abandonment – because of gender, twin pregnancies, or birth defects – has led to the deaths of many newborns even into the 20th century. Because it was just so common for babies to die before they’d learned to walk, they didn’t receive the same consideration as older children. 

This idea may seem barbaric to us now, but our ancestors may have had far different ideas of personhood than we do currently. Quite frankly, it was a different world back then.

Pick Your Place

You and your partner have to draw your line in the sand somewhere, wherever your conscience is comfortable. Make an informed decision, then do your best to not let judgment or condemnation from others affect your decision. It’s between you, your partner, and God.

SUMMARY

This section was heavy. I won’t offer an ethical conclusion for you. The goal here was simply to present information so you can be reasonably informed to choose on your own when personhood begins. You and your spouse must discuss, pray, talk to people you trust, and decide what you’re comfortable with. If you’re not sure, that’s okay. If you change your mind, that’s okay too. It can be a big decision, but it doesn’t have to be. 

Go take a break: grab a coffee, take a walk, watch something funny. When you come back, we’ll get into the real reason you’re reading this. 

 Let’s talk about birth control.

FOOTNOTES

(1) Fertilization can theoretically be bypassed. Also, implantation elsewhere in the body (outside the uterus) can very rarely produce a live birth. 

(2) Abdominal pregnancies occur when implantation occurs in the abdomen, away from the uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. This is a very rare type of ectopic pregnancy. It’s extremely unlikely the baby will survive. 

All Scripture quotations are from The English Standard Bible (ESV). Crossway, 2001.