Due to advances in scientific biotechnology, we know with no doubt whatsoever that a human life begins at the moment of fertilization. The human zygote is a living entity, a human being, a human individual, and a person, all one and inseparable. From the moment of fertilization, under conditions we have come to understand and describe as normal, all subsequent development to birth of a living newborn is a fait accompli. There is no subsequent moment or stage which is held in arbitration or abeyance by the mother, or the embryo, or the fetus. Nor is a second contribution, a signal or trigger, needed from the male in order to continue and complete full development to birth.
Human development is a continuum in which so-called stages overlap and blend one into another.
Thus, the beginning of a new life is exacted by the beginning of fertilization, the reproductive event which is the essence of life. The Beginning of Life and the Establishment of the Continuum, pp. Scientific research which is truly ethical must be directed toward the good and service of all human beings without exception from the moment of fertilization until natural death. Failure to observe this ethical principle assaults the dignity of human beings resulting in automatic injustice. These fundamental ethical principles must govern all experimentation, research, and therapeutic procedures as applied to human beings unconditionally and without exception from the moment of fertilization until natural death.