As surprising as this may be to some people, there is no debate within the medical community as to when life begins. Life begins at conception. Therefore, every "succesful" abortion ends the life of a living human being.jallman said:First and foremost, I am not distressed at all since my argument still has the backing of the Supreme Court. But let me point something out to you. In the above posts, I accepted the information from my own source. I, in no way rejected that information, as you would believe. And it is not only my opinion that human life does not begin at conception...it has basis in hard science that is quantifiable and qualifiable. This is something you have, thus far, been unable to provide to back your opinion. Show me an undeniable life activity in a zygote that is shared with a late term fetus. This invocation of secular science was, after all, your challenge to start with.
As for my acceptance of my own source...I accept my own source fully. There were how many other views on when human life begins in my source in contrast to your conception argument? And besides, within your own quotation, I bolded further sections which refuted your argument...let me repeat...within your own quote from a source I handed you. I am simply stating, if you have nothing left to offer except drivel and quotations of song lyrics that have nothing to do with anything we are discussing, then the debate has ended with you failing to meet the burden you placed upon your opponent. In effect, you have defeated yourself, so I can't even claim credit. A pity, because I was really boning to win this one on my own merit.
Consider the testimony below from several leading embryology text books.
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th ed.
Keith L. Moore, Ph.D. & T.V.N. Persaud, Md., (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), 2-18.
"[The Zygote] results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm ... unites with a female gamete or oocyte ... to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual."
Essentials of Human Embryology
William J. Larsen, (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1998), 1-17.
"In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. ... Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point... This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
Human Embryology & Teratology
Ronan R. O'Rahilly, Fabiola Muller, (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996), 5-55.
"Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed... Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments... The zygote ... is a unicellular embryo... "The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or ... to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book."
These books are available through Amazon.com in the event that you would like to test your opinion against them.