Ross, I am sure you agree that there is a difference between a ball of cells and you. A ball of cells left to grow for 9 months could become a human but, it is up to the female who is giving it the means to do so if she wants it or not.
A ball of cells, in the case I am talking about, is not life. A human is.
She didn’t say life isn’t present at conception. She said that she doesn’t think that life begins at conception. Is an unfertalized ovum any less alive than a fertilized one?
No. The ball of cells WILL become a human unless the female who is giving it the means to do so kills it.
Whether she wants it is immaterial. It WILL become human without some sort of intervention – be it a “natural” intervention (miscarriage) or deliberate intervention (abortion).
Oh please…it’s fair to say that PLG’s original post suggested that life does not begin at conception, but DOES begin at some later point. She later ammended that to (I think) say that the life created at conception is not human, but becomes human at a later point.
An unfertilized ovum is not “a life” (i.e. distinct genetic material yadda yadda)…even though it, and other cells in the human body are quite surely part of a living being.
The whole argument equating zygotes/embryos/fetus’ to toenails is silly for the same reason.