Posted on 11/18/2011 4:16:38 PM PST by wagglebee
When one considers the ethics of manipulation, the question of whether we ought to, or whether we may manipulate an organism or entity depends on the answer to the first and most fundamental question:
In the fields of obstetrical medicine and reproductive medicine the ethical debates have raged for four decades. Enlightened discourse between opposing parties must assume good motives by all involved, and then go about asking the essential questions, following where the truth of science and reason lead.
Many claim that life begins at some point distant from fertilization, always beyond the point at which they propose some manipulation (abortion, embryonic stem cell culturing, etc…). There are always a list of biological functions that are given to define when human life begins: Cognitive capacity, etc.
The simple biological truth of the matter is that the Cell Theory states that all cells arise from pre-existing cells. There is no blackout period between sperm and egg uniting, and then the emergence of ‘life’ at some point distant.
The Carnegie stages of human development indicate that human development begins in the zygotic stage. Then there is the assertion of developmental biologist and leading textbook author in the field, Scott Gilbert. In his text, Gilbert takes us through the life cycle of a dog. His text, Developmental Biology, is arguably the leading text in the field. According to Gilbert:
“Traditional ways of classifying catalog animals according to their adult structure. But, as J. T. Bonner (1965) pointed out, this is a very artificial method, because what we consider an individual is usually just a brief slice of its life cycle. When we consider a dog, for instance, we usually picture an adult. But the dog is a “dog” from the moment of fertilization of a dog egg by a dog sperm. It remains a dog even as a senescent dying hound. Therefore, the dog is actually the entire life cycle of the animal, from fertilization through death.”
First, note how he sets the word dog off in quotes at one point, to communicate the very essence of the organism:
But the dog is a “dog” from the fertilization of a dog egg by a dog sperm…
The same may be said of all vertebrates, including cats, giraffes, chimpanzees, and humans. Substituting the word human for dog in Gilbert’s analysis gets to the heart of the matter. We are human for our entire life cycle. We are whole and complete in form and function at every stage of our development, for that given developmental stage. The prepubescent child is fully human, even though they lack the capacity to execute all human functions, such as abstract reasoning, or reproduction.
In the same way, the early embryo is alive and fully human, though it has not yet executed all human organismal functions.
Photo via: embryology.med.unsw.edu.au
Precisely!
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Anyone who has ever taken 8th grade biology already knew this. That “nonviable tissue mass” crap is something the people hating/abortion loving commie ‘RATS came up with.
You don’t have to be a scientist to know that life begins at the moment of conception.
Liberalism is a disease.
btw...thanks for posting this! :-)
NEVER A DOUBT!
BOOKMARK.
Praise God!
From a scientific point of view, there never has been a question of whether the embryo is alive and human from the moment of conception.
That is precisely why so many artificial definitions of “human” have been invented. The only thing these definitions have in common is that whatever marker is put forth as being the definitive measure of what is “human” always, conveniently, develops after the point at which abortions are no longer performed (by the abortionist promoting that specific definition, anyway).
There is never a moment, not one second, that a human zygote, embryo, fetus, etc. etc., is not human.
There is never a moment, not one second, that a human zygote, embryo, fetus, etc., etc. is not alive.
Thus, from the moment of conception, a human being is deserving of all of the rights and privileges of every other human being living under the protection of our Constitution.
Abortion is evil. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Abortion is the handmaiden of the Devil himself.
Every human being that is aborted is celebrated by Beelzebub with glee.
And woe unto our nation that has allowed more babies to be aborted - legally - than were slaughtered in all of the wars we were involved in, all of the victims of the Holocaust...
I weep for what we have done.
“Enlightened discourse between opposing parties must assume good motives by all involved, and then go about asking the essential questions...”
Only someone intellectually dishonest would assume or even care about “good motives”. Would the author suggest that “enlightened discourse” would require us to assume “good motives” or care about motives on the part of Nazis in a discussion of whether Jews are “fully human”.
The proabortionists are moral monsters.
“Enlightened discourse between opposing parties must assume good motives by all involved, and then go about asking the essential questions...”
Only someone intellectually dishonest would assume or even care about “good motives”. Would the author suggest that “enlightened discourse” would require us to assume “good motives” or care about motives on the part of Nazis in a discussion of whether Jews are “fully human”.
The proabortionists are moral monsters.
I find it interesting that it takes an educated idiot to figure out what we have all known all our lives. We can really rely on these people to help us understand.......wonderful.
Someone once noted that every teenage boy who has ever bought condoms knows when life begins.
Pro-life bump!
The DNA of the zygote cell is it’s own, the DNA of the child.
The child’s DNA is different from the father’s - and also different from the mother’s DNA.
The zygote cell is therefore not of the mother’s body, as every cell of her body has her own DNA and the zygote’s DNA is that of the child.
Life begins when you become a conservative.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
