New Missouri Law Requires Abortion Providers to Hand Their Patients Brochures Declaring that Life Begins at Conception

STLtoday.com: New Mo. abortion law counters some philosophy, theology, by Tim Townsend:

It's a question that has perplexed philosophers, theologians and scientists for thousands of years.

Pythagorean Greeks, early Christian church fathers, Talmudic rabbis, Sunni and Shia thinkers, Hindu brahmin and modern bioethicists have grappled with the fundamental, ultimately unknowable, mystery: At what point in our biological development are we infused with a soul? At what point do we become human?

On May 14, the final day of their legislative session, Missouri lawmakers declared the answer, and last month, by withholding his veto, Gov. Jay Nixon signaled that he agreed. On Aug. 28, their answer will become the law of the land.

"The life of each human being begins at conception," according to Senate Bill 793, which will add new regulations to the state's 24-hour informed consent law for abortions. "Abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being."

Those words will be displayed "prominently" on brochures that abortion providers will be required to hand out to every woman seeking the procedure — even if they don't happen to believe the Christian theology the words represent. . . . 

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I've written about the vague and deceptive nature of the term "life" as used by the anti-abortion-rights movement: see The Meaning of "Life": Belief and Reason in the Abortion Debate.  In the same vein, see Michael Kinsley, The Moral Inconsistency of Stem Cell Opponents (posted above).