[Xeroc]

Originally Posted by Gatac

Xeroc: If we are going with the scientific definition of life, we can not refute that the fetus is alive right after conception. It is, after all, a cell with the same genetic code as the fully-grown human, and meets all criteria. It lives. To me, asking where life begins is nonsense; the question (as portrayed by Zeke) is: where can we speak of a meaningful correlation between this infant life and the finished baby? Heartbeat? Neural activity? Recognisable presence of all essential organs? That is, in my humble opinion, the great question.

Though a bit unscientific, if we portray the development of the child as a sort of evolution from one-celled organism to primate on a smaller scale, at which level of complexity do we recognise that this is humanoid life?

I don't think you understood my post. Especially the astericked part:

Originally Posted by Xeroc

*Note: Biologically, the cell is alive even before it is fertilized, but so are the millions of bacteria floating around in our air.

I was not talking scientifically, I was talking about when It's considered "immoral" to destroy. As we obviously don't care about the millions of bacteria in our air, but they're just as alive and unique as the fertilized egg. They're not human, however.

Originally Posted by Chancellor Valium

the foetus (and this is the correct spelling, damn it )

Originally Posted by marplanauta

(sorry for not spelling right foetus)

Actually, Valium, foetus is primarily used in Britian. The most popular (and still correct!) spelling is fetus, while both are valid.