Mailbag Reader Suggests Not Mixing Beliefs With The Facts

Claudette Klein makes some good points in her letter about the application of eugenics in legislation (Mailbag, Aug. 19 issue). However, in one sentence she lumps together views about Blacks and Jews, and “human life begins upon egg fertilization” as beliefs. The last item is not a belief. It is a proven scientific fact. When a man’s sperm penetrates a women’s egg, a new person comes into being. It is a human embryo, not just a piece of tissue. The new combination of DNA proves it is a unique person. It also proves it is from the mother and the father.

I began life that way. So did Ms. Klein, and all human beings now living and dead. As an embryo, it may not look like you would want a human being to look, but its DNA will determine all the characteristics that you would like to see in a human being. It just takes time to grow. And like the rest of us, it needs the love and care of parents, natural or adoptive.

John L. Downes Kirkwood