From: c164-ad@po.berkeley.edu (Martin Guerrero)
Subject: Human Life! :) (Was Re: I had an abortion two days ago)
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 04:33:16 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.033216.27693@cs.yale.edu> rescorla@rtnmr.chem.yale.edu (Eric Rescorla) writes:
>In article <1992Oct6.023143.20915@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> c164-ad@po.berkeley.edu (Martin Guerrero) writes:
>>You do know that you cannot call a sperm/egg members of homo sapiens.  Doing
>>so would be a very big leap.  By human life, I do not mean that which is
>>alive and is merely a messenger cell from a human.  Messenger cells are
>>not members of homo sapiens and therefore, cannot be called human life,
>>for the umpteenth time.
>Mere assertion will not make it so, sir.
>
>WHY can one not call gametes "human life?"
>WHY are gametes not members of homo sapiens? I was not aware that this
>was something addressed by biologists?
>
>If you're going to be in the business of deciding what is and
>is not "human life" perhaps you will grace us with a coherent
>definition.

For the umpteenth time:
  That which exists at conception is, indeed, a new human life.  From the
scientific community comes:
    Science has determined that at conception, a new individual comes into 
    being, possessing a unique genetic code that has already determined
    the individual's sex, fingerprints, hair and eye color, facial 
    features, etc.
    Based on:   
    -- Shettles and Rorvik, Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life
	 Before Birth (Zondervan, 1983), pp. 36-40. 
    -- L. Arey, Developmental Anatomy, 7th ed (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders,
	1974), p.55
    -- The New Encyclopedia Britannica, Macropoedia vol. 26, (University
 	of Chicago, 1989), p. 710

Also, from the California Medical Association, in 1970, declared abortion
to be killing and referred to "the scientific fact, which everyone really
knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra-
or extra-uterine until death."
   -- California Medical Association, California Medicine, 113:67, 1970

One of the reasons I seem to "assert" without giving much details is 
because, as the California Medical Association mentions, the fact that
human life begins at conception is common knowledge.  Detailing common 
knowledge should not be one of my tasks.

If you want, I shall continue.

Right now I am addressing your common sense and general sensibility:
-- Do you really think a cheek cell is a member of homo sapiens?
-- Is a toe nail really a member of homo sapiens?
-- Is a six month old fetus/unborn child a member of homo sapiens?

If you are still able to quarrel with this, I will now address
your scientific side mixed in with reason:
1) Try putting an egg or a sperm in isolation in a mother's womb.  Wait nine
   months.  Any sign of a screaming, crying baby?
2) Now try putting a zygote in a mother's womb.  Wait nine months, barring a
   miscarriage, an abortion, or a stillbirth, any signs of a screaming,
   crying baby?

Another viewpoint:
  Previous to conception, all that exists are the man and his sperm
(specialized male human cells which acts as messengers), and the woman
and her eggs (specialized female human cells which acts as messengers).
After conception, the "special message" from the sperm combine with the
"special message" from the egg to form a completely new set of DNA, which
represents the identity of a human's facial characteristics, fingerprint,
etc.  No matter what you do, that human life exists right there at that
moment.  The proper number of chromosomes, and the right type (homo sapiens),
as well as DNA which is definitely human point to the fact that human life
begins at conception.  

  But contrary to some people, fetuses are NOT renewable.  Once created,
the only way you can "take it back" is either to let it die, or to
make it die.

  As for the sperm/egg is it a human or not debate, previous to conception,
the sperm/eggs exists as human cells but in no way can be seen as members
of homo sapiens.  After conception, a new human life is produced.