And according to legal dictionaries a person is a human being. Science has clearly stated that we are human beings from the time fertilization is complete.
Can you offer any credible science that states that unborns are not human beings? Is your argument so tenuous that you can't answer such a simple question? You argue on other boards and it is clear that you have some skill at it. Tell me, what do you think of the quality of another's arguments when they find that they are unable to answer the most basic questions on a topic.
This isn't a trick question. I simply want to know if you are holding in reserve some credible science that says clearly that we are not human beings until we are born. I would like to know if your position is based on some fact or on your opinion.
I am going to argue this from two points: Human and Life.
Human:
There is no credable science that says fetus' are not homosapiens. If you define "human" as strictly the biological species known as homosapiens then fetus' are human. So are organs within the human body for that matter. They aren't mice, whales, or cockroaches.
Life:
There are many definitions for "life". Most center around this (from Wikipedia):
Conventional definition: Often scientists say that life is a characteristic of organisms that exhibit the following phenomena:
1. Homeostasis: Regulation of the internal environment to maintain a constant state; for example, sweating to reduce temperature.
2. Organization: Being composed of one or more cells, which are the basic units of life.
3. Metabolism: Consumption of energy by converting nonliving material into cellular components (anabolism) and decomposing organic matter (catabolism). Living things require energy to maintain internal organization (homeostasis) and to produce the other phenomena associated with life.
4. Growth: Maintenance of a higher rate of synthesis than catalysis. A growing organism increases in size in all of its parts, rather than simply accumulating matter. The particular species begins to multiply and expand as the evolution continues to flourish.
5. Adaptation: The ability to change over a period of time in response to the environment. This ability is fundamental to the process of evolution and is determined by the organism's heredity as well as the composition of metabolized substances, and external factors present.
6. Response to stimuli: A response can take many forms, from the contraction of a unicellular organism when touched to complex reactions involving all the senses of higher animals. A response is often expressed by motion, for example, the leaves of a plant turning toward the sun or an animal chasing its prey.
7. Reproduction: The ability to produce new organisms. Reproduction can be the division of one cell to form two new cells. Usually the term is applied to the production of a new individual (either asexually, from a single parent organism, or sexually, from at least two differing parent organisms), although strictly speaking it also describes the production of new cells in the process of growth.
Do the "unborn" posess all the characteristics of life?
