[Bowana]

Most definitions of the word "Person" include the words Human and Individual.

Is this fetus Human? Yes.

Is this fetus an individual? No.

No, a fetus is not a person until birth.

[jwalsh07]

Is this fetus an individual? No.

You believe that a baby in the womb is not a distinct and seperate human being? Based on what?

[MHGinTN]

Is this fetus an individual? No.

No, a fetus is not a person until birth.

posted by Bowana The fetus (little child) has been a distinct, individual human being from moments after conception. The individual in the 4D image IS a distinct individual human being. As for your second assertion, well, I wouldn't want to be you when you meet your Creator! [HINT: have you ever heard of a human woman being pregnant with other than a human preborn baby?... At what point during the gestational period in Mommy's body does the individual become nameable, identifiable sexwise, testable medically, cureable with corrective surgery?... Be very careful with that last clause.]

[It's me]

Not an individual? Can you explain that, please? Is he a multiple?

[CharacterCounts]

Most definitions of the word "Person" include the words Human and Individual.

And most of the definitions of "individual" include the word person. Thus, you cannot rely on the dictionary to determine if the fetus is a person or individual.

The actual history of the tretment of the fetus is more complex. Well before Roe v. Wade, the law did not treat the fetus as a full person until it had "quickened" (remember this goes bck to the 19th Century). "Quickened" generally meant that the fetus took on the form of a human being and had other characteristics of individuality such as an independant heartbeat. So, in the 19th Century if you shot and killed an expectant mother before the fetus quickened you would be charged with one murder. After the fetus quickened you would be charged with two.

Of course, modern science has demonstrated that the fetus has all of these signs of signularity at a very early stage of development. Traditionally, dependency on another for life has not been a test of personhood.

[piasa]

Is this fetus an individual? No.

Yes, it has a mind of its own. Do you think Siamese twins are not individuals?

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Of course it's a person! Ask my 3 year old, and she would say the same.

Walk into any ICU, and look at how many people are hooked to life-sustaining medical equipment. God-willing, many of those folks will eventually grow strong to the point the equipment isn't needed anymore. I don't see a difference, except that the "equipment" attached to the person comes from different sources. Oh, and maybe that one is in a hospital, and one is inside a human incubator.

Of course it's a person! I want to have one more, just to get to experience the 4D!!! Too fantastic, for oh, so many reasons!!!

[capitan_refugio]

"No, a fetus is not a person until birth."

This statement is neither correct in the legal sense, nor in the biological sense. That late term baby is very much a "person" - as any parent would tell you - prior to being born.

In many jursidictions, an unborn child is recognized under the law as a separate individual from the mother. Example: An eight and half month woman is walking down the street. A negligent driver loses control of his car and runs her over, killing both the mother and child. That driver can be legally charged with two homocides in many jursidictions.

On the flip side, if that mother was about to turn the corner and walk into an abortion clinic and get a late-term, partial birth abortion, we are supposed to believe that it is her "right" and that no harm is being done to another living being (that this aborted fetus is just a collection of cells, with outs feelings or rights). Pathetic.

A society that can not, or will not, protect its weakest members, does not deserve to exist.

[A2J]

Most definitions of the word "Person" include the words Human and Individual.

And what dictionary do those "definitions" come from?

The College-abridged version of the Dictionary Of Planned Parenthood Terms?

[Khepera]

You are incorrect. The person in question is an individual with its own DNA.

[Outlaw76]

Fetus is latin for 'young one' or 'offspring'.
Is this 'young one' an individual?

May it come to pass that those who submit their children for murder and the people who carry forth that murder, have their lives taken in the same manner as the slain child. For this I pray.

[wingnuts'nbolts]

A nice way to parse words to make a fetus (an unborn Human being) a non human being with no rights. Once the egg is fertilized and a human being is beginning to gestate to birth it is a human being with all the rights other human beings in our society have.

[Kevin Curry]

No, a fetus is not a person until birth.

How convenient.

[gitmo]

Is this fetus an individual? No.

The fetus can be a different sex and race from his mother. How can he not be an individual? In fact, with in-vitro fertilization, the individual can be of totally separate lineage from the woman whose womb he is in.

[GatorGirl]

Of course the fetus is an "individual".

No blood is shared between mother and baby in the womb. Their two hearts beat individually. The umbilical cord does not attach to the mother, it attaches to the placenta, which is a separate and distinct organ which implants in the uterine wall to serve as a conduit for nutrients and waste to pass between mother and baby.

I have also heard a fetus compared to a "tumor". Every cancer survivor I know considers the cancer a separate entity which invaded their body, not a part of themselves. So even that pathetic analogy fails.

Bottom line, the fetus is absolutely a separate, human, individual, notwithstanding the intellectual contortions of the pro-abortion crowd.

[Naspino]

Most definitions of the word "Person" include the words Human and Individual.

So Webster's has the final say?