Pregnancy Begins at Conception - not Implantation. ACOG is wrong.

Creedhunt, you have offered several interesting points and perspectives in the comments section and I hope we can delve further into all of them here. My opponent is correct when he says that Con is expected to defend the validity of ACOG's statement. Con's analysis of ACOG's statement is however not entirely accurate in my opinion. When ACOG claims that pregnancy does not begin until "implantation" - they make no exceptions. According to their statement , it is ACOG's view that ALL pregnancies begin at implantation and not before implantation. Is that the view that my opponent is willing to defend? Secondly, my opponent offered this comment as clarification of his views; "I will attempt to prove that implantation can and should be considered when pregnancy starts. "Con my be surprised to see that I can agree that implantation is the start of some pregnancies in some cases; like when a couple uses In Vitro Fertilization to get pregnant. In that (IVF) process [1], the donor's egg is fertilized outside of the woman's body, Conception takes place in a petri dish and then later (after a few day's growth) they embryonic child is implanted into the woman's uterus. Like I said, in those cases, Con and I might actually agree that those pregnancies begin at "implantation. " I could argue that it actually begins sooner - being that the pregnancy could not take place were it not for the success of the steps that preceded implantation but I digress. From the woman's biological perspective in a process such as IVF, she would not be biologically 'pregnant' until the embryo is transferred into her body. ACOG's claim goes beyond that. Let's note how even the IVF process (above) is entirely consistent with the Merriam-Webster's definition of 'conception' just provided by Con in R1. "1 a (1) : the process of becoming pregnant involving fertilization or implantation or both" [2]I would like to bring Con's attention to the words "or" now bolded and underlined in the definition he provided. Doesn't the use of the word 'OR' in that definition mean that pregnancy can begin at Fertilization, OR implantation OR both? As that is the case, Con has already poked the first hole in ACOG's position with the definition he himself provided. ACOG's declaration does not allow for pregnancies to begin at any point other than 'implantation. 'Moving along. While I find definitions useful in debates and discussions, I have to point out that the definition Con has provided is not entirely accurate either. Not all fertilizations / conceptions will result in a pregnancy. Certainly conceptions which take place in a petri dish do not always result in a pregnancy. Correct? Therefore there is more to the definition and meaning of the word "Conception" than what my opponent Con provided for us to consider in R1. Remember, it is ACOG's position that a pregnancy does not begin until implantation takes place. It is Con's role in this debate to defend that position. So, the key element in this debate is 'when and how do pregnancies actually begin? ' Does pregnancy begin before the implantation of the early embryo into the wall of the uterus? Or does pregnancy only begin after implantation has taken place - as ACOG claims? In preparation for this debate, I read further into some of ACOG's other writings on the subject and I found an interesting and related article here. [3] "How your baby grows during pregnancy" In the very first section entitled "How does pregnancy begin? " the article says;"Fertilization is the first step in a complex series of events that leads to a pregnancy" and it goes on to say; "during the next few days (following fertilization) the fused egg and sperm move through the fallopian tube to the lining of the uterus. " According to this source [4], it can take 5-8 days for a newly conceived child in the zygote stage of their life to finally attach themselves to the lining of their mother's uterus. That means that by the time implantation takes place, the mother has already been carrying her newly conceived young for nearly a week or more. I will have to expound on this information in my next round. Right now I must leave for another commitment. Thanks to all who read this. I look forward to reading Con's counter arguments. SOURCES [1] IVF - . http://americanpregnancy.org...[2] Conception - . http://www.merriam-webster.com...[3] How your baby grows - . http://www.acog.org...[4] Stages of fetal development - . http://www.merckmanuals.com...