Pro-choice: Okay, I must admit that science does prove that individual human beings begin at conception. But they’re not persons, until later.
Pro-life: Oh? You make this distinction because of the three basic operations unique to persons – reason, free will, and self-consciousness?
Pro-choice: Yes, you’ve got it.
Pro-life: And you claim not all human beings are persons?
PC: Ah…yes, that is correct. Like you said, persons can reason, choose freely, and they have self consciousness.
PL: And the purpose of your argument is to show that we may kill human beings at will, but not persons; do I have this right?
PC: Well, yes. I guess that’s one way of saying it. Abortion should be legal.
PL: Then let’s test your hypothesis by looking at each of the three faculties unique to persons. Self-consciousness kicks in at around four years old, enabling us to have self-knowledge and memories. Do you believe we have the right to kill human beings under 4 years old?
PC: No, of course not!
PL: Then let’s look at the other two, reason and free will. The age of reason is considered seven years old. This is when children are first able to reason and discern right from wrong, and begin being responsible for their free will actions. Do you believe it is okay to kill children under 7 years old?
PC: No!
PL: But this is what you must conclude, since you differentiate human beings from persons and define persons by the operation of these three powers.
PC: Umm, let me think about this a little more…
PL: And while you’re at it – you’ll also have to think about how your claim doesn’t justify killing the senile, those with mental impairments, and even those temporarily without these faculties, like the unconscious through accident, intoxication, anesthesia, or simply being asleep. In none of these people are their personal powers operating.
PC: Okay, maybe there is a flaw in my approach to separate human beings from persons.
PL: Of course there is. I know this is a trendy argument from the faux intelligentsia today in their endless quest to justify abortion, but all human beings are persons. Personal qualities are essentially present at every stage of maturity in the human being since conception, although not fully operable until a certain point.
PC: So you’re making the distinction between the powers and their operation?
PL: Yes. Personal powers present do not operate until certain points of maturity. But that doesn’t mean they are not persons.
PC: Okay. I thought you were going to throw faith at me, not reason and science, and I was going to shout “Separation of church and state!”… but what you’re saying here really makes sense.
PL: From a purely scientific viewpoint a human person is a living organism that in a healthy state has the potential capacity for rational thought, free will, and self awareness. This inclusive definition includes all human beings – from their embryonic and fetal stages of life through old age. No faith needed. No opinion. No ideology. True faith never contradicts true reason or science.