I am pro-choice but I also believe human life begins at conception-because it does- I don't believe in souls.
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So what are eggs and sperm before they meet if not human and alive? And what is the difference between a cluster of cells and a person?
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(Eggs and sperm on their own don't begin a human life.) I mean that conception is when human life begins. When human life becomes viable and becomes a "person" is a different thing.
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This is a conceptual thing. Intuitive. I share it. It's not rational.
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Can you explain what you mean? I don't understand.
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There is no real reason to put the starting point at conception rather than five minutes earlier. It comes from the intuition that stopping a thing is worse than never starting a thing. For the potential person who never knows they are alive, there is no difference.
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Right, for the potential person, it makes no difference. But for the actual people who see conception as a time when a human begins to be formed, it might.
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Yes. This is why the mother has the choice. I could not have an abortion because I feel it like that. I can support friends through one because I know the consequential reasoning on behalf of the potential person.
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Soul has no thing to do with it. Basic embryological science says life begins at conception. A cut-off point like 'aware brain' is as arbitrary as 'the head hasn't emerged from the vagina'
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No, it doesn't. Sperm and eggs are alive. Conception is also arbitrary. What makes sense from an ethical point of view is the potential for suffering and loss.
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A sperm and an ovum are not human beings. A blastocyst, zygote, fetus are all human beings at different stages of development.
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The only difference between and egg before and just after conception is essentially an additional strand of DNA, which is just a molecule. Why is this ethically significant?
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Because left to its own devices, it will become a live human should nothing prevent it (e.g. miscarriage). That's the difference. This is how pro lifers see it. Those that don't want to control women. Exceptions of course.
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Left to its own devices, it will surely die. Just like an egg, it needs very specific inputs in a highly controlled environment (the womb) to survive. It is *potentially* a human, but then again so is an egg. The odds of unfertilised egg becoming human are lower though.
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Well no. I'm talking about a fertilised egg that has attached itself to the uterus. One that can survive so long as there aren't complications. Or at least if it dies, it does so "naturally". Not an egg on its own.
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Both an egg and a fertilised egg need to be “fed” a constant stream of molecules if they are to grow into a human. The egg just needs one more molecule.
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And, once again, the pro-life people reveal their REAL agenda: not saving babies, but controlling women's sexuality.
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When do you think an aware brain develops? And is that your cut off point for legal termination?
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