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.
Hiplew,
Thanks for the astonishing information that an embryo or a zygote marks the beginning of human development. You're a regular Einstein.
Now, can you point to a post where anyone said that an embryo or a zygote wasn't the beginning of human development?
Yeah...Well heres a couple....
Originally Posted by maineman View Post
since most folks on the planet believe that life begins at birth, I don't think you can show me where Jesus thought that fetuses - especially those in the first or second trimester - were considered innocent LIFE.
Originally Posted by Cypress
You redneck bible-thumper: abortions have been performed for thousands of years in all societies, including christian ones. Attempts to outlaw abortions didn't even happen until the mid 1800s.
You moron: here's the real test to see if you think a fertilized embryo is a "human child":
Originally Posted by maineman
I do not personally believe that fetuses in the early stages of development are human life. I do not personally believe that Jesus would have thought so either...but that is, admittedly, just my own opinion.
--------
Of course you can nitpick the use of the word 'child', as I know you will...
but we know human development begins at conception....from that point on it only a matter of physical growth....the fetus doesn't become anything other a HUMAN baby, then a HUMAN child, then a HUMAN adult....because it the beginning of HUMAN LIFE....and it all has nothing to do with religious belief....its scientific fact.....denied only by pinheads for a political goal...
-----------------
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.....
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."
* Human Embryology, 3rd ed.
Bradley M. Patten, (New York: McGraw Hill, 1968), 43.
"It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitues the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual."
* Biological Principles and Modern Practice of Obstetrics
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Friedman, (Philadelphia: W.B. Sanders, 1974), 17.
"The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life."
* Pathology of the Fetus and the Infant, 3d ed.
E.L. Potter and J.M. Craig, (Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, 1975), vii.
"Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition."
http://www.justplainpolitics.com/images/smilies/funnyface.gif