Education

Maryland Right to Life presents detailed, factual information to various audiences to help people make informed decisions about such issues as abortion, euthanasia, infanticide, human cloning, and embryonic stem cell research.

The right to life is not based on some philosophical definition of "personhood."
It's a fundamental human right of all human beings.

Philosophers, theologians, and social engineers may debate the meaning of personhood, but there is no question about when a human life comes into existence. It's not a question for philosophy or religion. It's basic biology — a new human life comes into existence at the union of an egg cell and a sperm cell, the moment of fertilization.

Every human being who has ever lived began life as a single cell. This is not a matter of opinion or religious dogma. It is a simple scientific fact.

Life ends when a person's heartbeat stops permanently and irreversibly. Life does not end when a disability is diagnosed or when a person begins to require special care. Every human being — regardless of age, size, level of development, or condition of dependency — has an inalienable right to life.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [and women] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life …”

• How many abortions happen daily in the United States and in the world? Click here to see an abortion counter.