Opinion
Page 8 Friday, July 31, 1981 The Michigan Daily

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The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 52-S
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan
Iran's needed
voice survives,
HE FRENCH government has shown
admirable judgement in accepting ousted
Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr to
reside within its borders. Given the ostensibly
constructive role Bani-Sadr played in the self-
destructive Mideast nation, his undeserved
flight was most distressing to see. It is hear-
tening that he has reached safety and
security-with his lofty goals of a democratic
Iran still intact.
Bani-Sadr has used French soil before as a
site for studying his notes-and awaiting his
moment in the Iranian sun. For 14 years, when
the Shah ravaged , and infuriated the
population, Bani-Sadr worked with Ayatollah
Khomeini before his inevitable ascension to
power. When the two of them returned to
Teheran, it was Bani-Sadr who almost single-
handedly defended critical human rights that
the Islamic fundamentalists passed over in
their post-revolutionary zeal. Not only did
Bani-Sadr support democracy at
home-which has long since vanished-but he
provided a stable and essential voice for Iran
in international affairs.
In his absence, the Iranian Parliament
operates under an obscene pretext of
legalism, the national economy is crippled,.
and the war against Iraq continues to raze
both countries.
For now, at least, Bani-Sadr's voice can con-
tinue to promote sanity for the ultimate
resurrection of a frenzied nation.

The futility
of defining life
By John Critchett

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There is a bill in Congress right
now which defines conception as
the point at which life begins.
This bill, though noble in cause, is
rooted in dangerously illogical
thinking. The truth of the matter
is that life's origin can never be
pinpointed to one time or place.
Life is like the distance between
two points which can neverbe
measured exactly; you, can
always make the lines on a ruler
a little finer.
Unfortunately, this is a very
unsettling concept to some-on
the same level with infinity and
black holes.vRather than con-
ceding that there is no exact
definition of life, the mental
featherweight invents one; the
Republicans have chosen concep-
tion. Based on their underlying
assumptions, I can actually
deduce that life begins before
conception. How long before? As
long as you wish.
THE CONCEPTION argument
runs something like this : Life
begins at conception because the
ovum (fertilized egg cell)is
potentially a human being. By
implication, however, anything
which is potentially a fertilized
egg cell is also potentially a
human being, This is where the
problem starts. At any given
moment, according to this
hypothesis, there are an infinite
number of potential human
beings. Right now, there are as
manypotential people as there
are germ cells, and germ cells to
be. Every time an egg cell is
naturally destroyed ina woman's
body, the world has lost the
potential for another human
being. The critic will interject at
this point that there is a great dif-
ference between a fertilized egg
and a pair of germ cells. I will
throw the question,back to him,
how much difference is there
really?
In 1978, Dr. Patrick Steptoe
created the fertilized egg cell that
would become Louise Brown by
mixing sprem and egg in a petri
dish. While the cells were in eye
droppers suspended above the
dish, the difference between
Louise Brown and no Louise
Brown, according to the concep-
tionists, was the distance bet-
ween the two eye droppers. Does
it really matters if its contents
have actually been mixed? Ob-
viously, it does not. There is the
same potential for human life in
the eye dropper as there is in the
womb. In other words, you might
as well say that life begins before
conception.
Suppose you are a woman who,
through disease, has been ren-

dered incapable of having
children. Haven't you lost the two
or three or four children you
might have had? Is this loss any
less tangible than if you had abor-
ted them all? Are the children
you lost any less "real" than the
ones aborted in clinics every day.
The point is not to condone abor-

at which the soul is born. Maybe
its the 4th day after conception.
Or maybe its not until the 40th
day.
Even were it possible to exactly
pinpoint the time at which a fetus
has a soul, is it clear that the
issue should be decided on the
basis of this criterion alone? I

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tions, but merely to observe that
life must be defined as life, and
not as potential life. Based on this
observation, it is clear that life
does not begin at concep-
tion-unless, of course, you main-
tain that the ovum is actually a
human being. In that case, your
conelusion is ridiculous, but
locically consistent.
AFTER REFLECTION, most
people will agree that actual life
begins sometime after concep-
tion. Exactly when it begins is not
known. Obviously, it is necessary
to first know what life is before
we can determine when it begins.
And knowing what life is requires
identifying its one ultimately
distinguishing characteristic.
Those who have considered this
question have narrowed the sear-.
ch to that one observable faculty
in the universe which is both self-
aware and self-actualizing: the
soul. Now the problem has been
reduced to a manageable level;
all we have to do is find that stage
in the development of the fetus

think not. Suppose, for instance,
that Spina Bifida, an extremely
debilitative birth defect, has been
discovered by ultrasound in a
fetus. Should this potential per-
son be subjected to a life of
misery just because he has
passed the cut-off date for having
a soul? If you answer yes to this
question, you are among the
misguided people who imagine
that there is a distinction between
body and soul. When a baby suf-
fers, his soul suffers with him,
and when the baby cries, his soul
cries too.
If you disagree with this
reasoning, I can only wish you
luck in trying to elucidate the
exact second at which a fetus has
a soul. In your attempt to label
and define life, you have found a
caterpillar, and called it a butter-
fly.
John Critchett, a resident of
Ann Arbor, is a student at
Duke University.

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