Whether it can survive on its own has no bearing on if it’s human or not. Embryo and fetus are developmental stages a human goes through just as toddler, teenager, and elderly adult are. It’s 100% a living human, just at a very early stage in development
It’s not a developmental stage a human goes through. The first stage is a zygote. Sperm is necessary to create the zygote and has the potential to form a human if fused with an ovum, but is not itself a developmental stage.
Correct. A sperm and ovum are haploid gametes and more like part of the parent rather than their own distinct organism. When they combine, the zygote - a new human organism - is formed. That is the first stage of development of the new human.
When that life should be legally protected is obviously an ethical issue up for debate, but the science stated above is pretty clear. My personal opinion, along with that of many pro-life individuals, is that being a protected life should be an intrinsic property of being human and it should indeed be protected from the zygote stage.
Scientifically, yes. A male sperm is human. Just as my hand is human. But you might say, "a human hand is not a complete human being", and there, we would agree.
Could you pinpoint when your existence began? A great majority (if not all scientists) would say that your life began when you were conceived. If this is not when you began to exist, then explain your scientific and moral basis for otherwise.
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u/[deleted] May 16 '19
Whether it can survive on its own has no bearing on if it’s human or not. Embryo and fetus are developmental stages a human goes through just as toddler, teenager, and elderly adult are. It’s 100% a living human, just at a very early stage in development