193 / 304
43.
Life.Begins at Conception
-–
Medical Testimony
by
Paul A. Byrne, M.D., Neonatologist
Dr. Byrne is chairman of the pediatrics department at
St VincenrsMedical Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut
On September 28, 1989, he addressed the question of
when human life begins in the following testimony at
a special hearing on abortion sponsored by
ConnecticursHouse-SenateJudiciary
Committee~
That
testimony follows (courtesy of the American Life
League):
1. I am Paul A. Byrne, a Doctor of Medicine. I reside
in Bridgeport, Connecticut and I am licensed to
practice medicine in Connecticut and Missouri. I
attended St. Louis University Medical School and
obtained my M.D. in 1957. I am certified by the
American Board of Pediatrics (1963) and the Sub–
Board of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine of the
American Board of Pediatrics (1975).
I have·been on a faculty of a medical school for 28
years. As a neonatologist I have taken care of
many ill newly born and prematurely born infants.
Oft.en a neonatologist is consulted by the
obstetrician before delivery, thus it is required that
we have knowledge about the baby before he or
she is born.
2. A new human life begins at conception when the
Sperm providing half the chromosomes penetrates
the ovum, providing the other half of the
chromosomes to form a new set of chromosomes.
Or, to consider it from the aspect of
175