The Conscious Foetus

Oregon Magazine ^ | April 2, 2003 | Larry Leonard

[WaterDragon]

Foetuses may develop consciousness long before the legal age limit for abortions, one of Britain's leading brain scientists has said.

Baroness Greenfield, a professor of neurology at Oxford University and the director of the Royal Institution, said there was evidence to suggest the conscious mind could develop before 24 weeks, the upper age where terminations are permitted.

"Given that we can't prove consciousness or not, we should be very cautious about being too gung ho and assuming something is not conscious. We should err on the side of caution."

OMED: Recently Portland was treated to the uninformed bombast of Hanoi Jane Fonda during a Baby Murder Inc. rally at a downtown location. A woman's right to choose was at stake, she said, referring to the late stage aborton.....(snip)

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[kimmie7]

ping for later reading...

[NewRomeTacitus]

Sorry, wrong turn. By the title I thought this was about Tom Daschle.

[jwfiv]

The central nervous system is the first 'organ' to take form as the embryo develops...the little being is in a hurry to develop a brain to carry the spark of consciousness, its first priority.

I think, therefore I am...says the little embryo...eager to takes its place in the world and fulfill its destiny.

Absolutely...embryo = fetus = baby = thinking, feeling human being.

[WaterDragon]

A very tiny person, yes.

[MHGinTN]

Well stated. But consciousness is something that has several levels. With first cell division--onset of mitosis--the individual human being conceived is expressing its individual lifetime begun at conception, even before implantation. An individual lifetime is begun at conception and is at the earliest age of a continuum of individual life. In one sense, that first cell division begins the many directions of intent the individual life will take in its own development. I would characterize that as the first age of conscious tasking as the embryo 'delegates' cells to the task of seeking life support and placental formation and yolk formation, etc.