Does human life begin at conception

1
Does human life begin at conception?

• Allison Hoberg
• Ashley Hughes
• Malynda Johnson
• Devon Swancer
• Nicholas Wade

2
Fetal Development

• Day 1- fertilization presence of all human
  chromosomes
• Day 5- Blastocyst arrives in uterine cavity.
  Floats there for a day or so and then implants in
  the uterine lining.
• Weeks 2 and 3- embryonic membranes are formed
  (amnion, yolk sac, and chorion)

3
Fetal Development

• Week 3- extensive cell migration and the
  beginning of organ development. The first body
  segments and the brain begin to form
• Week 4- The digestive and circulatory systems
  begin to develop and the heart begins to pump
  blood. Beginning of spinal cord and nervous
  system develoment.
• Week 5- Arms and legs form
• Week 6- eyes and ears form

4
Fetal Development

• Week 7- Reproductive organs begin to
  differentiate in males and continue to develop in
  females
• Week 8- fetus is about the size of a thumb with a
  very large head
• Week 12- facial features, arms, hands, fingers,
  legs, feet, toes, and eyes are almost fully
  developed
• Week 15- fetus has strong heartbeat, some
  digestive functions, and active muscles, most
  bones are fully developed, fetus is covered with
  fine hair (lanugo)

5
Fetal Development

• Month 5- fetus is 10-12 inches long and weighs up
  to one pound, internal organs are well developed,
  but lungs are still developing
• Month 6- fetus is 11-14 inches long and weighs
  more than one pound
• Month 7- fetus is 13-17 inches long and weighs
  around 3 pounds, fetuses may be viable by this
  point
• Month 9- (full term) fetus is about 20 inches
  long and weighs around 7 pounds

6
Fetal Viability

• A baby born at 28 weeks may survive but
  complications and death are highly probable
• A baby born at 32 weeks is most likely to
  survive, but may require some medical attention
• A baby is considered full-term at 37 weeks

7
Scientific Views

• Genetic view Fertilization creates a new
  individual.
• Embryological view Identical twinning can occur
  as late as day 12, which produces two separate
  individuals. Even conjoined twins can have
  different personalities. So, a single individual
  is not actually fixed until after day 12.

8
Scientific Views

• Neurological view In our society, we define
  death as the loss of a cerebral EEG pattern, so
  the acquisition of the human EEG at around 27
  weeks could be defined as the beginning of human
  life.
• Immunological view Human life begins when an
  organism is able to distinguish between self and
  non-self, which begins around the time of birth.

9
Scientific Views

• Ecological/Technological view Considers the
  beginning of human life as when a being can exist
  separately from its mother, which depends on lung
  formation.
• Integrated Physiological view Human life begins
  when the infant is independent of the mother and
  has its own functioning circulatory, alimentary,
  and respiratory systems.

10
Scientific Evidence(Human life does not begin at
conception)

• Parthenogenesis
• Gives an unfertilized egg as much human life
  potential as a zygote
• Routinely done in reptiles, amphibians, and
  birds.
• Has been done with rabbits and mice, no reason to
  think it CANT be done with humans

11
Scientific Conclusion

• Scientifically, it is difficult to say that
  Human life begins at conception because
  conception is only one of many things that must
  happen in order for a child to be born
• It is also not straightforward as to when a
  life becomes human
• Biologically speaking, a being is potentially
  human if it is a member of the species Homo
  sapiens, and has recognizably human DNA

12
What makes a life human?

• The process by which the fetus develops its
  distinctly human traits (The Facts of Life
  Science and the Abortion Controversy)
• What distinguishes humans from other organisms is
  their large, multiply connected cerebral cortex
• A being therefore acquires humanness when the
  cortex begins functioning
• This begins to happen around 24-27 weeks of
  gestation
• Coincidentally, this happens to correspond with
  the time in which a fetus becomes more likely to
  survive being born prematurely.

13
Human Cerebral Cortex

• The cerebral cortex mediates the most complex
  psychological processes, processes that have
  achieved their highest level of complexity in the
  human species. (John Pinel, A Colorful
  Introduction to the Anatomy of the Human Brain)

14
Cultural Beliefs

• Contemporary Western culture conferred no later
  than birth
• Ancient Sparta attained sometime after birth
• China female babies were once killed routinely
• Japan begins when baby utters first cry

15
Cultural Beliefs

• Northern Ghana waited until 7 days after birth
  to view a child as human
• Native Americans (Mojave) If a child lived long
  enough to be put to the breast they could no
  longer be killed
• Aborigines of Formosa Until a child was named,
  there was no punishment for killing it
• Island of Truk They considered deformed infants
  ghosts and they were burned or thrown into the
  ocean

16
Saint Thomas Aquinas

• Wrote Summa Theologica which is considered to be
  his magnum opus
• As was practice of the time, the soul was
  considered to be the intellectual principle
• It was what made humans, humans instead of being
  lower animals
• This intellectual principle is considered to be
  separate from the body, but the very string that
  holds the bodily being together.

17
Quickening

• Definition the first discernable movements of
  the fetus
• Middle Ages- didnt believe that there was human
  life until quickening occurred. Abortion was
  therefore declared by the earliest authorities a
  lesser crime than criminal homicide until
  quickening, and then it was a felony after
  quickening.
• English common law located the beginning of a
  human life at "quickening," believed to be the
  stage when the embryo could be felt moving within
  the uterus, which occurs at about four months.

18
Abortion

• Roe v. Wade
• 1973
• Involved a pregnant woman (Roe) who was
  contesting the constitutionality of the Texas
  criminal abortion laws.
• Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's famous Roe v.
  Wade decision, abortions were permitted in
  certain states but banned in others. The court
  ruled in 1973 that, anywhere in the U.S.

19
Roe v. Wade

• A woman and her doctor may freely decide to
  terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester
• State governments can restrict abortion access
  after the first trimester with laws intended to
  protect the womans health
• Abortions after fetal viability must be available
  if the womans health or life are at risk state
  governments can prohibit other abortions

20
Wheres our interest?

• Wade argued that although there is no human life
  at conception, there is at least potential life.

21
Religious Views

• There is no consensus view from the religious
  community
• When you believe human life begins depends on
  your religious interpretations

22
Buddhist and Hindu Beliefs

• Conception is the beginning of human life,
  because it is at this time that the persons soul
  enters its new body.
• At death, the human body dies, but the soul lives
  on to be reincarnated.
• Non-violence is an important principle in both
  faiths.

23
Jewish Beliefs

• They believe in the sanctity of life, even
  potential human life
• However, according to Jewish Talmudic Law, the
  child is recognized as human life when the head
  emerges from the mother.

24
Islamic Beliefs

• Islamic law regards a fetus as a possible heir
  however, abortion is legal with the fathers
  consent.
• The Islamic faith strictly forbids abortion once
  the fetus has acquired a soul anywhere between
  40 and 120 days after conception.

25
Christianity(Human life does not begin at
conception)

• Exodus 2122-25
• When people who are fighting injure a pregnant
  woman so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no
  further harm follows, the one responsible shall
  be fined what the womans husband demands, paying
  as much as the judges determine. If any harm
  follows, then you shall give life for life, eye
  for eye, etc.
• Some argue that since the man didnt hurt the
  mother then he isnt regarded as a murder,
  suggesting that the woman had greater moral and
  religious worth than the fetus (Swomley)

26
Christianity(Human life does not begin at
conception)

• There is some text in the Bible that suggests
  that human life begins when you take your first
  breath
• then the LORD God formed man from the dust of
  the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
  breath of life and the man became a living
  being.

27
Christianity(Human life begins at conception)

• Some say the Bible teaches that God knows and
  loves each person before birth, and He has a plan
  for each persons life.
• Jeremiah 14-5a The word of the LORD came to me
  saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew
  you, before you were born I set you apart...."
• Psalm 13913-16 For you created me in my inmost
  being you knit me together in my mother's womb.

28
What do different states think?

• Human life begins at conception
• AZ, ID, IL, KY, LA, MN, MO, NE, ND, PA, SD, TX,
  UT, VA, WI
• 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. Section 2601-2609
• Human life begins sometime after conception
• AK, CA, FL, GA, IN, MA, MS, MI, NV, NY, OH, OK,
  RI, SC, TN, WA

29
Group Conclusion

• There is no universally acceptable answer to this
  question.
• Both scientific views and religious views are
  inconclusive.
• It is a judgment call.

30
Our Judgment Call

• No, human life does not begin at conception
• While life may begin at conception, it has not
  yet achieved humanness

31
Resources

• 'When Does Life Begin? Biblical background on the
  abortion debate,"
• home.earthlink.net/mflabar/When20does20life20b
  egin.htm  
• zygote.swarthmore.edu/intro5.h...
• http//www.abortion-and-bible.com/whnlif
• http//www.devbio.com/article.php?id162
• http//www.devbio.com/article.php?id162
• http//www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-personhood.htm
• Pinel, John. A Colorful Introduction to the
  Anatomy of the Human Brain
• Freeman, Scott and Herron, Jon C. Evolutionary
  Analysis
• http//www.krasnow.gmu.edu
• www.mb.jhu.edu
• http//www.religioustolerance.org
• http//www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/fetaldevelopmen
  t.html
• http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/00
  2398.htm
• http//www.tldm.org/news7