When Does Human Life Begin?

These are FACTS. Do not bother me with arguments. Nothing changes FACT.

If life was discovered on another planet there are criteria we would refer to conclusively determine if the claim was accurate. How do scientists identify life?

A scientific textbook called “Basics of Biology” gives five characteristics of living things; these five criteria are found in all modern elementary scientific textbooks:

All living things... are highly organized, have an ability to acquire materials and energy, have an ability to respond to their environment, have an ability to reproduce, and have an ability to adapt.

According to this life begins at fertilization, when a sperm unites with an egg. At this point all five things above are true. Non-living things do not do these things. Even before the mother is aware that she is pregnant, a distinct, unique life has begun his or her existence inside her.

That life is human. A human being is a member of the species homo sapiens. Human beings are products of conception, which is when a human male sperm unites with a human female egg.

INTERESTING QUOTES

"By all the criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception." Dr. Hymie Gordon, Chairman, Department of Genetics at the Mayo Clinic

“I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy.” Hippocrates, 400 B.C., Greece (Originator of The Hippocratic Oath)

"To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion ... it is plain experimental evidence." The "Father of Modern Genetics" Dr. Jerome Lejeune, Univ. of Descarte, Paris

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness