tehsage said:
I appreciate that. I have some work I should be doing. We shall continue our discussion tonight, yes?
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Sorry I took so long to respond, I got really busy for a while and then I felt like there wasn't a point because it had been so long but I had already started writing something, I didn't finish it. It was intended to be a long answer but here it is anyways, I'll just summarize the rest :
Alright so when does life begin?
Religious groups say at conception, some people think it's a birth, but most people believe it starts at some point in the pregnancy cycle. This question is very difficult to answer because it is not simply a question of biology but also a philosophical one. Let us examine the biological side first.
In Viviparous animals like humans the egg or ovum is fertilized inside the body (ie we don't lay eggs, they stay inside) and the embryo develops inside the uterus. The human egg is one of the biggest cells in the body and is visible without a microscope. This cell has a nucleolus which holds and transcribes rRNA within the nucleus, surrounding that is the cytoplasm which is the encased by the zona pellucida and the corona radiata. The sperm cell has a head which houses the nucleus, a connecting piece which holds the mitochondria, and the tail and the end piece.
Now when you look at any plant or animal cell do you think it is alive? The standard classification is that yes these cells are alive. They have organelles and survival processes, however not sentient they are alive.
When the sperm cell fertilizes an egg they together become the embryo the earliest stage of human development. Then the cells within the zygote begin to multiply, this is called cleavage. At least four divisions take place and then the cell becomes what is called a morula, it is simply a solid ball of cells (not expanding at all in size.) The next stage is the Blastula in which all these cells are surrounding a fluid known as the blastocoel. The blastula cells then begin to tighten and align with one another and form the blastocyst. This takes place 5 days after fertilization. This all takes place within the very first week, so at this point is it anymore alive then it was before?
Well both the sperm and the egg were living cells, and now they've become more living cells, but there still isn't any sign of sentience. Abortion is possible in this stage and to do so would be akin to cutting of a piece of excess skin cells, the only difference is that skin cells aren't on the path to become something greater then they already are. But back to embryogenisis.
Now this is when I stopped writing because it was taking too long and I got lazy so for the rest of the argument I'll just say this, defining when a person is truly a living human being is the central point of this debate and I believe it cannot happen at any point before 20 weeks after conception. Any earlier than this and the fetus not only does not have a developed thalamus but the pineal gland has not migrated into the brain yet and the gender is not even set. So late term abortions are the only instance in which I think a human is being killed. But there are still instances in which an abortion is necessary in the late term, such as health risks to the baby or the mother.