Respiration, Ensoulment, and Personhood of the Human Zygote and Preimplantation Embryo

Abstract

Despite the biological reality that new human life begins at fertilization, the concept of embryonic personhood is anathema to the secular medical community. While Christian theologians have never condoned abortion at any stage of development, they have speculated over the timing of ensoulment, with some positing that a baby receives a soul at fertilization, while others postulating delayed ensoulment. Advances in the understanding of how God forms babies in the fallopian tube and in the womb helped the argument for immediate ensoulment to gain support. Furthermore, an appreciation that the zygote and embryo actually breathe adds traction to the argument that they are ensouled, regardless of whether they were formed within the mother or in the laboratory. In contrast to the utilitarian ethos of the secular community, for the Christian, the embryonic baby is a neighbor whom the believer is called to sacrificially love and serve.