At what point of human conception does life begin?

Question

At what point of human conception does life begin?

Answer 1

At conception. At that moment the person has it's own DNA. This could be used to prove it is a human being in a court of law.

Additionally, science acknowledges that it is a new life, an individual at conception as well. The only people who don't admit this are pro-choice advocates and the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said they didn't know when life began, and since they weren't equipped to decide that they would decide that a woman had a right to privacy. So, it is her right to kill her child under the privacy act. Sick.  

Answer 2

I don't know.

But I'd have to say not until after a blastocyst has developed so far it's no longer capable of splitting into twins.

Probably not until the brain forms, actually.

Answer 3

it is bizzare to me that so many say at conception when this is obviously not the case.

a countless number of fertilizations occur that do not result in recognizable pregnancys, let alone viable offspring.

did you know that brothels at one time, had a tea they had their women drink once a month, that would induce menstruation?  basically if there *was* a fertilization, and even an implantation in the uterus, this MERE TEA was enough to cause the woman to have her period, (which might not be even substantially more heavy than it might be with normal variation)  and nobody would ever even know.... "pregnancy" is by its nature so precarious at that point of development it obviously is not reasonable to treat it as though it were its own person.  at that point its barely even substantial enough to be classified as a parasite.

the question should not be when does life begin. that is infinitely too ambiguous.

the question should be when does the unborn baby become counted as an actual person.

Answer 4

life begin about 4 billion years ago and its a continuous process.  Sperm are alive. Zygotes are alive. Embryos are alive. They're just not people.

You leave more life than that on your pillow every morning

Answer 5

When the baby is outside of the mother's body.

If not, I should be charged with millions of counts of murder everytime I jerk it.

Answer 6

Human conception is when the egg is fertilized and that's when life begins.

Answer 7

At conception.  

Ok, let's take marsupials for example, the fetus leaves the womb at about the same stage of development as a human baby at 30-40 days of conception.  Now, if I were to take a joey from it mother's pouch and grind it under the heel of my boot.  Would you consider this animal abuse?  

It's quite obviously a life, just because it's not developed yet doesn't make it right for me to kill it.  

Answer 8

"Fertilization: Beginning a new organism

"Fertilization is the process whereby two s*x cells (gametes) fuse together to create a new individual with genetic potentials derived from both parents."  

Answer 9

at the time when the egg is fertilized by the sperm.  I believe it 100%.

Answer 10

I love this quote that makes so much sense:  

“You know why they call it birth control? Because it’s meant to stop a birth from happening nine months later. We know when life begins. Everyone who ever bought a pack of condoms knows when life begins. To put it another way, with conception something begins. What do you think it is? A car? A 1948 Buick?” —Peggy Noonan

Truth is, if a cat gets pregnant it has kittens, if a dog is pregnant it has puppies.  If a person is pregnant it does not have fetal tissue, it has a baby human.  Just because the form is not the same at conception as at birth does not mean it is not a human baby in the making.

Make yourself some muffins.  You put dry ingredients in the bowel, you put liquid ingredients in the bowel.  You mix.  Nothing but goo.  Here is goo and if you don't cook it, it will stay goo, most likely mold in your bowel over time.  

Having a baby is a process.  We don't have conception and birth in the same night, it takes time, but what you conceive is not a birth, it's a baby.  

Answer 11

Life began billions of years ago through abiogenesis, since then it has been a continuous process.  The sperm and egg which become an embryo are living cells even before contraception, there is no point at which life begins.  

But why does it matter when life begins?  A cow is alive, yet most of us don't consider eating beef to be murder.  A carrot is alive, and I've never met anyone who thinks eating vegetables is immoral.  And what of the bacteria you kill by the millions when you brush your teeth?  Or the human cells you kill when you scratch yourself?  'When does life begin' is quite simply the wrong question to ask in the context of the abortion debate.

Answer 12

40 days after conception

Answer 13

What is the definition of death?  I take the opposite of that.  

Answer 14

Although greatly debated, the Catholic Church views that human life begins at the very first  moment of conception. This is based on the book of the prophet Jeremiah when God states: "Before you were born, I knew you..."

Regards,

Josemaria Rojas, OSB

Answer 15

There are different virsions of this answer: Some argue that it starts when heart start beating (at about 20 week pregnancy), some say when the baby is actually born and breathing air, and there also  a belief that the soul of the baby knows ahead of time that the mother is about to concieve. Would that be considered anythng? Unless you are asking about actual physical being.  

Answer 16

Jehovah God is “the source of life” and “by him we have life and move and exist.” (Psalm 36:9; Acts 17:28) When does the Creator say life begins? He views the life of a child as precious even during the very early stages of development after conception. More than 3,000 years before the above court ruling, he inspired David, his prophet, to write:

“You kept me screened off in the belly of my mother. I shall laud you because in a fear-inspiring way I am wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, as my soul is very well aware. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret [within the womb], when I was woven [allusion to the veins and arteries, which are embroidered through the body like colored threads of fabric] in the lowest parts of the earth [poetic description of the darkness in the womb]. Your eyes saw even the embryo of me, and in your book .

Answer 17

Before we answer that question correctly, we have to agree on a definition for the word "life."

Answer 18

when the egg is fertilized.

Answer 19

Life exists before conception . Individual human life exists as soon as a fetus is able to exist outside of the womb separated from the umbilical cord .

Answer 20

The minute those cells start dividing before they turn into a possible human being.  

Answer 21

As soon as you can form concepts in your own mind and not blindly follow the parroted ideas of other people, your life will begin. Until then you're just treading water.  

Answer 22

When the kid graduates college and goes to either medical school or law school

Answer 23

Our abilities and our form changes throughout our life's journey.  Nevertheless, from the moment of conception, the cells have their own unique DNA; they oxidize - process oxygen; they metabolize - process food; they reproduce; they have their own internal blood supply - separate from the mother; and on and on.  These are the elements of life.  Simply breathing from your lungs does not define life...an infant outside the womb is just as dependent on the mother for survival as it was in the womb.

Answer 24

birth

Answer 25

As soon as the man looks at the woman's ***, praise Him.

Answer 26

When its own unique set of DNA is created.

(that's at conception)

Answer 27

Life begins at the moment of conception.

Answer 28

At the point of cognitive self awareness.

A human is a rational and conscious being by definition.

So the point is not conception as your question seems to want to imply, as conception itself does not result in cognitive awareness of the self as a rational and conscious entity.

Neuroscience is still not definitive in terms of what stage such cognition develops but sufficed to say that at best it would require a brain that is capable of cortex activity.

Answer 29

It's easy to say that life begins at conception, but it's clearly not viable at that point.  It doesn't matter that life has begun.  You can choose to think it's important to you.  You don't have the right to impose that decision on others.

If a nurse extracts blood for a test, the blood contains living human cells with human DNA.  Those cells will die and nobody mourns.