pro life ad's in georgia

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by saden1

3. Growing? Yes, living? No. Their lives are not discernible from that of the host mothers. She dies, they die...she eats, they eat.

Their lives are discernible as the "lump of cells" may be destroyed with no harm to the mother's physical well being. If a life form begins its life as a parasite, depending on its host initially but growing to independence, isn't it still a life form? It's not like the woman is growing an extra kidney that will be absorbed into her body as a necessary part of it's function.

Even if it is a "lump of cells" at some point, when does it gain its humanity? To my knowledge their is no agreement on this point. Because of this, the abortion of a fetus raises the possibility, however slight, that a murder is being committed.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Their lives are discernible as the "lump of cells" may be destroyed with no harm to the mother's physical well being. If a life form begins its life as a parasite, depending on its host initially but growing to independence, isn't it still a life form? It's not like the woman is growing an extra kidney that will be absorbed into her body as a necessary part of it's function.

From your link:

Life (cf. biota) is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have self-sustaining biological processes from those that do not–either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as "inanimate."

Seeing how they are not self-sustaining I don't see how you can classify them as a life-form when they're in the early stages of development.

Originally Posted by JoeRedskin

Even if it is a "lump of cells" at some point, when does it gain its humanity? To my knowledge their is no agreement on this point. Because of this, the abortion of a fetus raises the possibility, however slight, that a murder is being committed.

You'll have to clarify what you mean by humanity. There's certainly agreement as to when a fetus is not viable. Statistically speaking fetuses don't survive outside the womb before 21.5 weeks of gestation (~5 months). Honestly, if a fetus is not alive, certainly not at the early stages of development, and can't survive on its own I can't see how that can be classified as murder. Most states have similar position as they have a viability clause in their abortion statute. If it's viable it's murder, if it's not viable it isn't murder.