abortion..

"A sperm has 23 chromosomes and no matter what, even though it is alive and can fertilize an egg it can never make another sperm. An egg also has 23 chromosomes and it can never make another egg. So we have eggs and sperm that cannot reproduce. A solitary egg or a solitary sperm does not have the complete genetic code for a separate human being. The ovum and the sperm are each a product of another's body: unlike the fertilized egg, neither is an independent entity. Neither one is complete. Like cells in someone's hair or fingernails, an egg or sperm does not have the capacity to become other than what it already is. Both are essentially dead-ends, destined to remain what they are until they die in a matter of days. This negates one common argument - that the unborn isn't human, or else every time a man ejaculated, or a woman menstruated, an "unborn" dies. Obviously this is ridiculous - a sperm without an egg and an egg without a sperm does NOT constitute human life." --> I can follow your logic in that if the cells of a foetus have the potential to reproduce, but the foetus is aborted, it's killing potential life. This can be followed down the chain back to sperm and eggs. "Once there is the union of a sperm and egg, the 23 chromosomes are brought together in one cell with 46 chromosomes. Once there are 46 chromosomes, that one cell has all of the DNA, the whole genetic code for a genetically distinct human life. It isn't a "potential" human life, or some "other" type of life because something non-human does not magically become human by getting older and bigger - whatever is human must be human from the beginning. Everything that constitutes a human being is present from that moment forward - the only thing added from that point on is nutrition so the unborn can grow. This new life is not a sperm or an egg, or even a simple combination of both. It is independent with a life of its own, and the development is actually self-directed. A sperm can't do that - neither can an egg. They do not "develop"." --> See here's the problem - When we begin to save things from their potential to be something, it goes into the ridiculous. A sperm and an egg have the potential to be an unborn baby, so under your logic they should not be "killed" under any circumstances. Furthermore, the DNA part is irrelevant. Rhesus monkeys have 93% common DNA as us http://www.livescience.com.... Should they get 93% of human rights? "The baby's blood supply is also completely separate from the mother's. If they are not separate bodies, how could a mother and child have different blood types? If a child's and mother's blood mix, it can be fatal for the child if the Rh factors are different. There is a shot to prevent this, but if there is not, and the blood of different Rh factors mix, the baby can die. Now, I cannot think of any doctor that would kill a newborn baby the moment that it was born. My question is now, can that baby be killed a minute before it is born, or a minute before that, or a minute before that? You see what I'm getting at. At what minute can one consider life to be worthless and at the next minute that life to be precious?" --> I have consistently stated that is is not human until it can feel and\or has a beating heart. I never advocated killing a foetus a minute before it's birth ==CONCLUSIONS== 1) My opponent has not addressed my argument about a mother dying should a birth be fatally potential to her and the baby 2) My opponent does not have scientific studies to back up his birth starts at conception claim