[beavus]

Thank you very much for those descriptions. I don't disagree with any of it. In particular, I agree with you that a sperm is alive.

However, it doesn't explain to me what the good Primate meant when he refered to "human life" as apparently excluding all forms of human life except the implanted fertilized egg. You and I agree that a human sperm is alive (when it is not dead). We also agree that it is human. Do we agree that it is a human life?

[hocndoc]

As I wrote in post 100, the sperm cell is not capable of any more division, differentiation or development. It is not "a life," simply a motile cell.

On the other hand, reproducible observation gives evidence of the fact that healthy human zygotes do divide, the resulting cells are a cohesive unit which differentiate and develop and grow. Each zygote *is* "a life" at fertilization because he or she possesses these qualities -- even when that one life becomes 2, 3, or 4 in his or her development and growth.