[Almondjoy]

Well you have a good point.. but the fact that we keep "vegtables" alive merely points out that we like to cling near and dear to hope.. that their brain really is firing away and that they can sense things around them.. if when no brain activity is present some people jsut can't let go. It can also swing back to my point that while people on heart lung respirations are alive and show brain function a fetus in the earliest stages has no brain activity at all.

[eastsider]

a fetus in the earliest stages has no brain activity at all

This is true, but has no bearing on the classification of the fetus as either human or alive.

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

a fetus in the earliest stages has no brain activity at all.

Virtually all abortions take place after the beginning of brain activity.