That's a 'nonquestion' to me. If a human sperm enters a human egg it creates a HUMAN!
You: That's a 'nonquestion' to me. If a human sperm enters a human egg it creates a HUMAN!
That scientist's language was unfortunate, but so is yours. Sperm is both human and alive. An egg is as well. What the scientist should have said was, "The more critical question is when life attains rights." Then we would naturally focus on the more appropriate questions--what are rights, and how do we determine if a thing has them? One place to start to answer that question is to ask, "Why do I have rights, what are they, and how do I know I have them?"
Shout all you want. It doesn't make it true.
The fact that you're even unwilling to investigate and question weakens your position. You're refusing to even think.
Shame on you.
even more when a sperm fertilizes an egg to form a fetus, it is a UNIQUE human. Biologically, this fetus has a gender, hair color, a face, a height, a risk of future diseases, eye color and depending on who you ask, personality. I think that is enough to answer all questions.
That is an opinion, by way of assertion, and hence meaningless.
A perfect example of the delusional "I am the emperor of the universe" school of argumentation.
To me, your opinion is meaningless. Where do we go from here?
Fertilization is complex process with multiple steps.
At which exact stage does the "humanization" occur?
Amen to that. My answer to "when does life begin" is that when any biological entity is provided with the elements needed to sustain life, if the entity continues to thrive, it is alive. An egg in itself is alive, but cannot become a human being without the sperm. Likewise for the sperm. But when those to come together and are given the nutrients the baby needs and it continues to grow and thrive, it is alive!!! No amount of liberal reasoning can ever overcome this fact. Which is why most liberal suppositions and ideology are specious - they are nonsustainable when logic and appropriate reasoning is applied. The Democrats are blind and do not see this - which is why they are becoming the permanently-minority party. Sweet!
potlatch wrote:
That's a 'nonquestion' to me. If a human sperm enters a human egg it creates a HUMAN!
When did we get our mother and father? When did we get those things, scientifically, that make us unique?
This is a no-brainer: when the egg is fertilized by the sperm, a Super Cell is formed. If that life dies after that point, it ends a human life. The DNA is unique at that point [except identical twins who assume different bodies].
The Super Cell then divides into other Super Cells. At some point, there are enough of these Super Cells that they start forming organs: skin, heart, lung, kidney, brain, tongue, eyes, skeletal structure, and even aid in the forming of the placenta and umbilical cord.
The mother provides 1. shelter and 2. oxygen as well as 3. food, and takes away wastes. The Super Cell, on the other hand, will eventually divide and grow into enough cells that the unborn can swim in the amniotic fluid.
The DNA makes the unborn a unique human being with its own body -- even if it only one cell -- a Super Cell.
If a person is smaller than someone else, that does not give, in our society, the right to squash the other person.
From the viewpoint of religion, there is only point that is unique in our life: the formation of that Super Cell. It is at that point that the soul would be given. Identical Twins are proof of this. There are many stories of them having unusual knowledge of the other -- which cannot be explained by science. That seems to imply an unknown spiritual attachment between the two.
That unknown spiritual attachment can only be explained by their origin: the Super Cell divides but it forms two unique Super Cells no longer joined together.
Thus identical twins share a common point of origin -- seemingly strengthening the bond between them that many observe throughout their lives. Thus, it seems likely that their soul is formed at conception, not at birth.
And birth is not a unique part of our existence. We receive oxygen and give off carbon dioxide in various ways before birth: from cells from the mother before the umbilical cord is formed and later from the umbilical cord. We do breathe air this way before birth. If it is not air in our bloodstream, then we are not alive...
I think you hit upon the only valid scientific answer. Hold up a bald eagle egg in front of an ornithologist and he'll identify it as a bald eagle egg. Stomp on the bald eagle's egg in front of an officer of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and you'll find yourself arrested and cited for destroying a threatened species. Ecological studies sometimes involve counting the number of a species, and amounts are sometimes separated by life stage--adults, juveniles, and eggs. Eggs are sometimes used as evidence of a species presence in a given area. Biologists don't generally debate whether or not a fertile egg is life, they simply, and correctly, assume that it is.
Thank you!
When people ask this question I always counter with:
When has a human being EVER conceived and produced anything other than a human being?
If it's not a baby you're not pregnant. I blow tissue out of my nose- it's not the same thing. What makes it different- it's a separate, human life!
If it's not alive, you don't have to go in and kill it- do you?