At university I am doing a module for my degree 'Healthcare' which is basically medical law. We have been debating as part of abortion/embryo research/reproductive technology about when life begin. Do you think life begind at conception? When the cells are formed enough to distinguish a person? or upon birth? In English law a feotus does not have a right to life and is not considered a person until it takes breath independant of the mother. It is an offence to procur the death of a feotus but it is not on the same level as murder. I think life begins at conception and should be protected. Once an egg is fertilised it has the capabaility of being born, it's DNA is programmed and it starts to grow. But the difficulty in recognising this approach would mean every conception should be protected and would contradict the law on abortion (which is far too lenient in my eyes) this would lead to women giving birth to babies they didn't want which could also lead to neglect, resentment, or worse, trying to get rid of the baby themselves putting their own life in danger. What are everyones views on this?
hm in my opinion I think a fetus is alive when it is able to support its own life. If it were to be taken out it could survive. So this takes place usually ... what the 6th or 7th month generally?
i believe life begins the second the sperm hits the egg and the cell begins reproducing, the zygot has the potential to becmoe asoemthing great so it should be treated like a person
Life begins as soon as fertilization occurs. You cannot judge science on politics. In south america, racism is rampant, and if even one of your grandparents is of colored origins, you are considered black even if you have blond hair and blue eyes. This entails you to secondary status within the community. This is/was the case for numerous other places around the world. Countries' ideas and opinions on certain issues change with time, and soon enough so with English law on abortion and the definition of life. Im pro choice, and believe its better for not only the child but for the parents and the environement/society as a whole.
This is a hard one. Yet, I believe that if the fetus is even in the earliest stages of growing it is alive. So yeah, when the sperm hits the egg that is when I believe life begins. Something does not have to be able to move/walk or breath to be considered living, as long as it's in development then it should have the right to be alive. And that's about all I have to say about that.
ooo an abortion topic, how unexpected. I think life begins at birth, when the baby takes its first breath. Until then, it's just a leech in a woman's womb. I'm pro-choice.
a cell has life too. so an egg is living even before it is fertilized. cells die every day.. in my opinion aborting a foetus is no different than say.. slicing off a piece of your skin. we shouldnt discriminate against different types of cells.. after all theyre all just cells.
true. but once that cell becomes a multi-cellular orginism, would you want to kill it? doing that would be like killing you (hypotheically speaking) no offence ment although i say this, im for abortion, but only in certian circumstances. for example im for abortion if the baby is going to live for only a couple of minutes, due to some disease or something. im against abortion if someone just wants to get an abortion because of an "accident"
At 2 weeks, the thing is only a blastula. Why only when blood enters the fetus, whould is a couple months I think before it becomes a fetus in our definition of the word? And bubble, who's to decide on whats the condition for life and whats the condition for death though? Is it not better to live than not to live at all? When you employ your solution, it becomes the same issue as assisted suicide of the elders and those suffering. and cells arent alive. The definition of life is very broad in a sense, as seen in the debate of whether viruses are considered "alive", but cells, in the sense that you are using it, are definately not alive. Single celled organisms are alive, becuase they feed and reproduce (dna replication, not just splitting into two). Cells dont contain dna/rna, dont reproduce, and dont require nutrients. if ur skin cells were alive, then theyd be able to think/act on their own...wouldnt that suck to have a trillion skin cells fly off your body as they move on their own?
I do not subscribe to either "when the child is born" or "when it is concieved". I like to think life begins the moment the fetus has its first real thought. Not like HUNGRY or PAIN or anything, but a thought of wonder.
life begins when cells start to form an intelligent being. say a foetus, so abortion's pretty cruel but i've nothing against it, sometimes keeping the baby can result in even sadder outcomes.
I actually think this debate is entirely pointless, the reason being that if we truly valued life, we would not just value human life, but animal and possibly even plant life as well - all forms of life. Therefore, to debate over when life begins and when it ends is utterly and completely futile since 1) if the true objective behind this uproar is to prevent murder, why not start with fixing what you know for sure is cruelty and murder instead - the slaughter of poultry for food or to protect ourselves from the birdflu "pandemic" or the chopping down of trees (which in my opinion is a lot more detrimental to society as a whole) 2) neither me, nor you, is god and 3) it depends on each individual's definition of life and is thus subjective (like a debate over morals or values)
Some people would have you believe life begins at 40.. Me on the other hand i think life begins when the baby is actually born. I dont know how to justify my answer its just what i think, but the baby would be ALIVE at about 12weeks or so
How in the world would anyone know when that is? No scientist can conclusively say the first time a baby has any thoughts. For all we know, the child can have it's first thought at 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months. Who knows. That's a ridiculous opinion. How do we know some animals have thoughts other than "hungry" and "pain"? Are they not living? Is someone who's braindead and can't have thoughts anymore not living?
For me, a life begins when the being is conscious and aware of it's surrondings. I don't really know when that is, but I'd see it as when the child is concieved. Virre - Please don't gravedig - If the last post is over 3 days old... leave it alone! - Marlene
personally, i believe it begins when the heart starts beating at 4 weeks. =) although i support a woman's decision that can abort a fetus anywhere before.. 12 weeks legally, is it?