"This process ultimately leads to the formation of a diploid cell called a zygote. When the zygote reaches the uterus and implants in the endometrium, it begins to divide and form an embryo. At this point the female is said to be pregnant" -Wikipedia
I love how the "All-Or-Nothing" Religious Right demand the complete abandonment of reproductive control in the name of God. Here we have a method that will prevent abortions, and they ignorantly redefine this as an abortion in order to keep the troops in camp.
What on earth will the Church do when abortion is made obsolete???
My question has been, how does anyone know if any of the egg released from the fallopian tubes are met by a sperm, thus becoming a zygote? Isn't it possible that none of the eggs are fertilized? And if that is true, there is no abortion, because there is no chance of a fetus forming, to begin with. How can that be called an abortion, when no one knows if fertilization has taken place? It sounds to me like it is a stab in the dark, assuming that everytime someone has sex, the egg and sperm meet.
From a much more reliable source, the glossary of the International Society for Stem Cell Research:
http://www.isscr.org/scientists/guidelines.cfm
Embryo: The term “embryo” has been defined and used differently in different biological contexts. Classical embryology has used the term embryo to connote different stages of post-implantation stages of development (e.g. the primitive streak and onwards to fetal stages). Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary (27th edition,1988 edition, W. B. Saunders Company) provides the definition: “in animals, those derivatives of the fertilized ovum that eventually become the offspring, during their period of most rapid development, i.e., after the long axis appears until all major structures are represented. In man, the developing organism is an embryo from about 2 weeks after fertilization to the end of seventh or eighth week.” An entry in Random House Webster’s College Dictionary reads: “in humans, the stage approximately from attachment of the fertilized egg to the uterine wall until about the eighth week of pregnancy.” However, the nomenclature has now been used generically by modern embryologists to also include the stage of first cleavage of the fertilized ovum onwards to nine weeks of gestation in the human and to term in the mouse. Two, four, and eight cell stages, the compacting morula, and the blastocyst are all more precise terms for pre-implantation embryos. Prior to implantation, the embryo represents a simple cellular structure with minimal cellular specialization, but soon after implantation a defined axis of development called the primitive streak begins to form. After this time twinning of the embryo can no longer occur as there is irreversible commitment to the development of more complex and specialized tissues and organs.
(emphasis is mine.)
1. I'm comforted in knowing that you have no actual say in what constitutes Truth.
2. Forced sterilization of every-other man and woman in America will prevent abortions, too. Good or evil?
3. Outstanding Wikipedia reference. It lends so much credibility to your argument.
4. Scientific definitions of "pregnancy" are irrelevant since science cannot determine the point of actual conception, which is the salient point on the timeline of life, not "pregnancy".
"An embryo isn't even a blob of flesh. In fact, a pre-implanted fertilized egg doesn't even qualify as an embryo."
Sorry Lunatic. You are joining sides with the illogical left on this one.
If a fertilized egg is not an embryo, what do you call embryonic stem cells?
Nothing at all wrong with abstinence. You wouldn't NEED a "morning after" pill if you used a little self control.