Study: 95 Percent of Biologists Say Life Begins at Conception

After a five-year struggle, University of Chicago student Steven Jacobs finally published his study into biologists’ opinions on whether life begins at conception. That study won him a Ph.D., but it also angered the liberal biologists and many others in academia. Some have demonized him, saying his survey seemed developed by the Ku Klux Klan and that it would expedite the extinction of the human race.

Jacobs’ study found that a vast majority of Americans believe biologists should determine the question “When does a human’s life begin?” and that the question is important to the abortion debate. Then Jacobs surveyed biologists and found that 95 percent of them agreed that “a human’s life begins at fertilization.”

Jacobs insists that his paper is not intended to argue the pro-life position in the abortion debate. “This paper does not argue that the finding ‘a fetus is biologically classified as a human at fertilization’ necessitates the position ‘a fetus ought to be considered a person worthy of legal consideration,'” he wrote. Instead, he cites philosopher Peter Singer’s “is-ought” distinction, claiming that Americans can believe life begins at conception and support the killing of unborn babies up until viability or birth. . .

So Jacobs compiled a sample of 5,502 biologists from 1,058 academic institutions (he reached out to 62,469 biologists and 7,383 participated in the survey, but only 5,502 answered the pertinent questions). The biologists predominantly identified as non-religious (63 percent), liberal (89 percent and 11 percent conservative), Democratic (92 percent), and pro-choice (85 percent, only 15 were pro-life). The sample included biologists who were born in 86 countries around the world.

A broad consensus of those biologists affirmed each of three statements representing the view that “a human’s life begins at fertilization” (75 percent-91 percent). Overall, 95 percent affirmed the view that human life begins at conception. (Read more from “Study: 95 Percent of Biologists Say Life Begins at Conception” HERE)

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