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I am not interested in counting souls.

Here's another way to look at the situation.

You would not feel free to destroy a building if you knew a small child was inside.

Would you feel more free to destroy that building if you thought 2 or more children might possibly be inside the building, instead of only one child?

Likewise, it doesn't really matter how many humans are in the blastula.

What really matters is that at least one human is present.

I wonder from a theological point of view what various various churches which believe a soul attaches to an ovum at conception might suggest has happened to the "extra" soul. The existance of such human chimeras strongly suggests that human souls are not attached at conception (or alternatively that some people have two souls).

I am not interested in counting souls.

Yes, it is very hard to get an answer to this question, since it raises very troubling questions about when a soul attaches during fetal development.

Here's another way to look at the situation.

You would not feel free to destroy a building if you knew a small child was inside.

Would you feel more free to destroy that building if you thought 2 or more children might possibly be inside the building, instead of only one child?

Likewise, it doesn't really matter how many humans are in the blastula.

What really matters is that at least one human is present.

Here's an alternative way to look at it. There is a blueprint of a building on a table in your yard. Someone's cigarette ignites the blueprint. The police arrest the smoker for arson for the destruction of the building.

It is a big stretch to suggest that a blastosphere "contains" a small child. It is proper to suggest that it might develop into a child, but there is no miniature child inside the blastosphere, so your analogy of an actual child inside a building is not apt.

jas3