A political or religious view, but not science

This is in reaction to the letter titled “Science’s final answer to when human life begins” by Dr. Den Trumbull of the American College of Pediatricians, which appeared in the Oct. 7 issue of the Inquirer.

Reading this supposed “scientific” statement from Doctor Trumbull made me do a web research on the “American College of Pediatricians (ACP).” Well, it turned out that ACP was just formed in 2002 as a reaction to the older and much bigger American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), regarding gay parenting. The AAP was founded in 1930 and has about 60,000 members while the ACP has only about 200 members. The religious conservative slant of the ACP is evident on this statement from its website: “The College bases its policies and positions upon scientific truth within a framework of ethical absolutes. Of particular importance to the founders were (as it is today) the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death and the importance of the fundamental mother-father family (female-male) unit in the rearing of children.”

Personally, due to my own scientific training, I am always skeptical of dogmatic “scientific” claims and appeals to scientific “authority” as seen in Doctor Trumbull’s letter. One definition of science is that it is a “systematic and careful use of evidence and logic to evaluate factual claims.” Science is a process of arriving at our best understanding of nature and will always be subject to revisions depending on new evidence or updated findings. You can say that there are no absolutes in science or “final answers.” Doctor Trumbull’s statement is more of a political or religious view but not science as I understand it.

—JOSE A. AGUILAR, MD,

medical consultant,

Philippine Children’s Medical Center,

[email protected]