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Hi, this is the wife, David is off on the other side of the country. He told me to read all your posts, that I would find it interesting. That is am understatement!
Science lists criteria for life, including need to take nourishment, need to eliminate, procreation, etc. There is no separate criteria for humans. I guess my point here is that life begins when all the criteria are met. That would be when the egg is fertalized. But is that really the question here? It seems to me the question is more "when is life valued as human?" To humans, the 'higher reasoning' comes into play, thus creating the problem of identifying when 'life' begins. If we identify ourselves only on our reasoning, then are we human if that is not there? There are many humans who lack the ability to reason logically. Are they 'human'? Do they have a soul? There are animals which reason far beyond some humans (take a border collie, mountain gorilla, a macaw ) Which is more valid? If a fetus is not human until it is born and feeding is not the reason, than are test tube eggs human until they are placed in the womb, then are not until they are removed at term? When we have the technology to carry to term a fetus outside the mother, when does it become human?
Interesting stuff, thanks for making me think. Jen
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