Progress becomes blind and destructive when it denies that life begins at conception

IN his letter (November 17), Con Hayes is incorrect in claiming that it “never will be possible to say with absolute precision when a foetus becomes a person”.

Science has confirmed with certainty that life does not result from an organism when it has been built up, but rather it is the vital principle of life that builds up the organism of its own body. Hence, human life begins at conception. This was established 120 years ago by Wilhelm His, the father of human embryology.

Major theologians also agree it is at the instant of conception that a person acquires his or her soul. Procured abortion, therefore, remains the deliberate killing of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth.