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Quote by: Starboy Pale Rider, no one is saying that the zygote is not alive. Please do not post references that simply indicate that the zygote is alive. If it is not clear by now that this discussion is about whether a single cell is a human being then there is no hope for you.
Starboy |
It seems that you are unilatarally redefining what a human being is. You are attempting to narrow what a human is down to just those attributes that suit your argument. Human beings mature from one stage to another till they die. You have failed to demonstrate in any way that being a single celled zygote is not just one more stage of our never ending process of maturation.
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Quote by: Starboy For me a human being is a homo sapiens (Latin for "knowing man"). It must be sentient in that it must have a working mind.... |
If you are going to limit yourself to only the literal meanings of words then you have painted yourself into the corner of accepting the literal meaning of fetus. The literal greek meaning is baby, if you prefer latin, it is young one. Either way, the literal meaning of fetus is young human. So nice of you to limit us to literal meanings and thus shorten this debate.
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Quote by: northtexan Look, it's not my specialty (I'm a sociologist teaching in a Gerontology program). And the way I first learned it, the genome of the fertilized egg did everything. But as I now understand it, it was long known that maternal chemicals, later identified as mRNA, controlled early development in insects. It was later found in mammaldevelopment |
The mRNA that you refer to is messenger RNA. It is present in the egg at the time of conception and as such it is residual in the zygote. The mRNA facilitates division but it is not something that the woman's body is actively doing in real time to support the pregnancy. From conception, the unborn is still directing the woman's body via chemical communication.
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Quote by: northtexan I find it sad that some people are so blinded by religious ideology that they cannot see the differences between a human person (capable of feeling, of consciousness, of self-awareness, and much more) and a single cell or clump of cells |
And I find it sad that one can be so blinded by an ideology of political correctness that they can not see that the unborn are the most innocent and helpless of us all. That in your blindness you would concoct a story that attempts to change a human into a "meaningless clump of cells" and would willingly see them slaughtered in their tens of millions rather than insist that adults behave in a responsible manner and live with the consequences of their actions if they don't.
We can all play that sloppy "play on the heartstrings" game and it is pointless from either direction. Why don't we just stick to the facts? The biological fact is that we are human beings from the moment of our conception, and human beings, have an inalienable right to life that trumps the convenience of a woman who doesn't want a child.