Grey Thoughts
3.6.05
 
Life - When does life start
David Wharton over at A Little Urbanity has a very well written post on when human life begins and what right to life is there.
So, back to the question. When did I start being me? Well, some of the things that make me who I am are my inherited traits, which include not only eye color and hair color, but also, apparently, higher-level traits like personality and sexual orientation. Twin studies seem to bear out the idea that personal identity is intimately intertwined with genetics.

Then when did my personal genome come into being? My high school biology tells me that it happened when a sperm cell from my father fertilized an egg from my mother, and they shared genetic material. Thus my personal genetic code had its first, distinct instantiation in a zygote.


Indeed. Human life begins at conception. That is because the zygote is a distinct and living member of the species of homo sapiens. The only reason this simple biological truth is ever questioned is that someones ideological beliefs wish it was not so.


Read the whole thing.
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