From: utzoo!watmath!watarts!bernie Newsgroups: net.women Title: Re: abortion Article-I.D.: watarts.1720 Posted: Fri Mar 4 08:04:47 1983 Received: Sat Mar 5 02:05:36 1983 Reply-To: bernie@watarts (Bernie Roehl) It's hard to know whether tina@phs was serious in her comments, but I'll assume she is and procedure from there. (If I'm wrong in the above assumption, Tina, let me know). To say that an embryo is the same as a full-grown human being is absurd. At the moment of conception, an embryo is a cluster of cells so small that they're barely visible under a microscope; to claim that that amorphous clump of organic matter is "human" is like claiming that a seed is "the same as" a full-grown tree. I don't argue that at some point in its development the embryo becomes an independent human being, and I can see some purpose in discussing the question of when exactly that point is, but I can say with some certainty that it's not at conception. --Bernie Roehl ...decvax!watmath!watarts!bernie