Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site spp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwspp!spp2!spp1!johnston From: johnston@spp1.UUCP Newsgroups: net.abortion Subject: Re: Re: Re: If life begins at conception, th Message-ID: <124@spp1.UUCP> Date: Thu, 29-Nov-84 03:47:18 EST Article-I.D.: spp1.124 Posted: Thu Nov 29 03:47:18 1984 Date-Received: Sun, 2-Dec-84 04:58:14 EST References: <2152@stolaf.UUCP> <71400002@trsvax.UUCP> <4182@cbscc.UUCP> <162@psivax.UUCP> Organization: TRW, Redondo Beach CA Lines: 30 > In article <4182@cbscc.UUCP> pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) writes: > >From a biological standpoint, it seems to me that sex cells only become > >an individual, a human being, when a certain specific event takes place: > >conception. After that it grows on its own. If a human life begins at > >conception it is not because of its potential to be human life, that potential > >has been fulfilled. > > > > This is incorrect, from a biological standpoint the moment of > fertilization(conception) is not particularly special. > To summarize: > 1) The ovum is freed from the mother when it is ejected > from the ovary, in a sudden manner. > > 2) The only *immediate* effect of fertilization is to stimulate > undifferentiated cell division. > > 3) The genetic impact of fertilization is delayed until > cell differentiation begins, some time later. > > Therefor -- Biologically there are *no* clear, sharp dividing lines, > and *any* demarcation point is of necessity arbitrary. > The issue must therefore be decided on different grounds. Thanks for the biology lesson, but read the rest of Paul's posting. By the time a woman suspects she's pregnant, is tested, and makes an appointment to have an abortion, all this has taken place. (I'm talking a minimum of a month). At that point, we know the result (IF LEFT UNINTERRUPTED). Mike Johnston