OK, let me get this straight. For the past couple days, people have been saying that abortion is a privacy issue and a religious issue. The fact that no one has decided to say that it is a biological issue utterly astounds me.

The author of "Imposing beliefs won't solve abortion debate (Jan. 22)," claims that abortion is a secular vs. religious issue, not an issue of whether or not the child is alive. That's like saying assisted suicide has nothing to do with death. Of course it matters whether the child is alive or not -- that's what this whole debate is about.

At conception, there is this idea in the soon-to-be parents' minds that they are going to have a child. It's proven that life cannot come from non-life -- the child cannot be "not alive" before it is "alive." So, by proof of induction, if the child is alive later, it is alive at the start. And killing something that is alive is murder. Even our wonderful laws don't condone that. Therefore, the fact that religions might think that abortion is wrong is irrelevant.

As for privacy, that is irrelevant as well. If we can tell people not to abuse their children, and we can tell people not to kill other people, then we can tell people not to kill their children, whether or not it is inside the mother.

The point is that privacy and religion have nothing to do with this. Basic biology does.