When does life begin?

[mayfly]

I got this off another non-religious board, and it sparked an interesting conversation there, so I wondered about everyone's opinions here. When do you think human life begins?

Personally I think it begins at conception.

[bobbcat]

I believe it does too, as cell division in those beginning stages serves as evidence that life exists.

[Shainie]

At conception

life ( P ) Pronunciation Key (lf)
n. pl. lives (lvz)

The property or quality that distinguishes living organisms from dead organisms and inanimate matter, manifested in functions such as metabolism, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli or adaptation to the environment originating from within the organism.

[chippers21]

Many pro-choice folks will tell you that life does not begin until the baby is born. It is just a fetus until then. And fetus's may be disposed of because they are not viable to live life on their own. That being a reasonable argument, we should be able to "dispose" of babies until they are walking, talking, and feeding themselves...oh wait, they do not actually support themselves until they work fulltime, usually after they finish their schooling. So life begins when we get our first self-supportive employment and it ends when we retire. All folks who are not actively working should be aborted. Or at least give their moms a chance to declare they do not want to support them so they should be disposed of. And, since the government loves to run everything and Mom is probably not around to make that decision when we are old, let's set up a system where the government gets to CHOOSE the folks that are worth keeping around and euthenize the rest. As an alternative, give the power to the environmentalists and no human will have enough value to remain. So life for humans should not begin at all.


Life is a precious gift. Our society is working hard to cheapen the value of life. (Abortion, casual attitudes toward violence, euthenasia.....)


Oh, and life begins at conception.

[prism68]

Life begins at conception.
Go watch the "Miracle of Life" video and you can't dispute it.

[mayfly]

Thank you guys for your replies. I am disappointed more people aren't posting and wonder why?

[msut14]

Originally Posted by mayfly

Thank you guys for your replies. I am disappointed more people aren't posting and wonder why?

The reason maybe that most people dont is that there is a clear division of people on this issue. Sad to say that the side other than mine dont mind calling human destruction by abortion a "choice" but those same people will fight for all its worth for saving a whale.

But to spell out the side I am on, of course there is no saying the side I am on is better, as we fight to save the unborn that are killed daily by the murderous doctors that perform abortions unapologetically, while most of those same people are for the 'capital punishment' for the heinous crimes of the living.

Coudl I possibly offer a truce in all of this? Stop abortions AND capital punishment, as well as Dr. Kervorkian-style mercy killings, and enhance both sex education with abstinence and criminal housing that places the worst criminals away for good.

Theres never a good answer when death is talked about. The good talk is about when life begins, life is a single cell, and that is when conception happens. No disputing that... government though added its own God rule, to allow life to end at anytime before being born. Too bad...

[momof3girls]

At conception!

[crazytimes]

I too believe that life begins at conception and as ultrasound technology improves, I think we are just going to be able to see better and more clearly how detailed these tiny babies are.

To me, if something is not dead, then logically it must be alive. You are either dead or alive, there really is no in between area. These embryos ARE alive, they are NOT dead.

I think more of the debate centers around whether they are human or not. I don't think anyone would deny that they are living organisms, but whether or not they are human beings is really the debate.

How does this affect your views on stem cell research?

I am against (a) paying people for their embryos and (b) allowing companies to "create" embryos for the sole purpose of using them to extract stem cells.

But I also realize that many couples who have trouble getting pregnant try in-vitro at fertility clinics. Naturally they "create" more embryos than they need and the excess embryos are often destroyed. These embryos WILL NEVER develop into a baby, so I think that that, with the consent of the parents, it would be fine to use them for stem cells. If those tiny lives could be used to save others lives, wouldn't that be better than simply disposing of them?

[Shainie]

Originally Posted by msut14

as well as Dr. Kervorkian-style mercy killings

The difference here is the person who dies made that choice on their own. I do think people should have a choice in their death. If I was old, and suffering from a disease that was going to kill me anyway, I should have a choice to end my suffering in a humane way.

[Pipanella]

Originally Posted by Shainie

The difference here is the person who dies made that choice on their own. I do think people should have a choice in their death. If I was old, and suffering from a disease that was going to kill me anyway, I should have a choice to end my suffering in a humane way.

Well......it's still killing. It's still you deciding when a life ends, whether it's your own or someone else's.