Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to See, it is an Individual

No one contests its uniqueness, only its identity
Mary Anne — (archived)

A chicken egg is not a chicken. A fertilized chicken egg is not a chicken. A chick is a chicken.

If someone gave you eggs when you ordered chicken, you would send them back.

A strand of DNA is not a human being. It has that potential, but it has not achieved that potential. A late-term fetus with a brain, who could be born and live (had one of those, too), has achieved that potential.

There are phases of "not yet" in nature. Clouds are not yet rain. Seeds are not yet plants. They have the potential to convert, but until the process progresses, they are not yet that. The clouds overhead don't ease a drought. To eat a walnut is not to chew on the wood of the tree. This iffy place of "not yet" is where your DNA strand hovers, and where the embryo and fetus hover until sometime in the last trimester when all those little synapses start to fire. We don't know when that is, so we err on the side of caution, and count from the 7th month, when all the equipment is available. That's why 3rd trimester abortions are so controversial, even among supporters of early abortion, and performed so seldom.

We will never agree on this unless you change your mind. Since this is coming from church, I doubt you will.

Regards--
Mary Anne

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