Pope’s Issue with Abortion One of the most controversial political and social issues in the world has been the morality of abortion. At what stage human life begins is one of the main arguments of abortion between the pro-choice advocates and the pro-life advocates. The taking of an innocent life, especially at it's beginning or end, is considered gravely immoral. Although Pope John Paul II argues his disagreement with abortion quite well, those in support of abortion say his claims are not strong enough and have many inconsistencies within them. Pope John Paul II view’s on the topic can be considered by many as pro-life, for the simple fact that he disagrees with all forms of abortion and believes that even fetus’ have the same right to life as any other human. The Pope defines procured abortion as, “the deliberate and direct killing, by whatever means it is carried out, of a human being in the initial phase of his or her existence, extending from conception to birth” (Timmons 276). The decision to have an abortion is often painful and tragic to the mother. Not only is she ridding herself of the fruit of life, but a part of herself, too. It may be that the mother's health, or the child's welfare after birth is a factor in this decision, but, “these reasons and others like them, however serious and tragic, can never justify the deliberate killing of an innocent human being” (Timmons 276). Since life is considered to begin at the time of fertilization, the new life is not the life of the father or mother, but of an independent human being. It has been scientifically proven that from the first instant of fertilization the embryo has its own genetic code that will establish what it will eventually be. Although, after time, the baby will be able fully function and use all of their capacities while it is still developing in the mother’s womb, “he or she is weak, defenseless, even to the point of lacking that minimal form of defense consisting in the poignant power of a newborn baby’s cries and tears” (Timmons 276). Until the child is able to fully defend itself it is entrusted to the protection of the mother. The Pope argues that a fetus is alive at conception and should have equal legal rights to that of the mother, and that the fetus' rights would be infringed if it were to be aborted. The legal argument in the abortion issue revolves around whether a fetus is alive at conception or birth and whose rights, the woman's rights or the fetus' rights, are being infringed. Pro-choice advocates argue that a fetus is not alive thus should not have any legal rights, and they argue that the mother's rights would be infringed if abortion was made illegal because it should be her right to choose what she does with her body. Pro-choice advocates also argue that Pope John Paul’s claim against abortion either begs the question or commits the fallacy of equivocation. The argument is that the Pope commits the fallacy of begging the question when he makes the assumption that abortion is murder because he is assuming the very claim he is trying to establish. The other argument that is made, regarding the fallacies in the Pope’s claim, is that two different senses of “human being” are used in the argument. The biological sense refers to a creature having a genetic code or makeup and the moral sense is a creature having moral rights. Using both meanings of the same term creates inconsistencies within the genetic code argument and therefore it results in a bad overall argument.