Are there people who really believe that a "fetus" is not a baby, a living human?

Question

Are these people living in the medical/scientific and biological stone age? Are they anti-intellectual?

Answer 1

You talk about people being in the medical/scientific/biological stone age... just what do YOU, Mr./Ms. Supposedly-Pro-Intellectual, know about embryology? Are you aware that it's not even called a fetus until it's about two months old? Not that I support abortion, but until the fetus can survive on its own outside of the womb (somewhere around 7 months), it is a parasite of the mother.

Answer 2

Ok, lots of strong emotions running around here! The best way to sort through this seems to be to work through it idea by idea.

The quickening idea that people seem to be mentioning is interesting but this term simply means that the baby is motile to the point where the mother can feel its physical presence. I don't quite understand why its any real milestone.

Mr. Wizard's Girl referred to the unborn baby as a parasite, whist I feel that this may be a little strong it is true that the mother and child are in fact in a parasitic symbiotic relationship. She did however raise a valid question, what actually are your credentials which you feel empower you to question scientific validity of the viewpoints of others?

At the point of conception and for quite a few days afterwards the zygote / embryo has more in common with a bacterial colony than a human baby, it has absolutely no form of consciousness, no specialised cells, and exists simply to divide.

I personally feel that until a baby is sufficiently far advanced to develop a consciousness it is not a human. Whilst the baby does have a unique set of genes I believe that there is more to being human than simple genetics!

I suppose that the real question here is "When does a fertilised egg become human?” and there is no real answer. It has to be about personal feeling, I don't know what motivated you to post this question; Abortion, Stem cell research, or maybe you just knew that asking this on a biology board would angry up the hornets. But you will have to make your own decision and run with it, if you feel that a baby becomes a baby at conception then fine, but you will have to respect that other viewpoints are as valid as your own, and are not inherently unscientific.

Thank you and goodnight!

Answer 3

Urp. I do believe that until "the quickening" of the baby, which usually happens around week twenty, the fetus is less than a person.

I have two science degrees, so I doubt I am either anti-intellectual or in the biological stone age.

Answer 4

As a father of five beautiful children, I can say with every confidence that a fetus is a living human the moment his mother realizes he is growing inside of her.There is a great pleasure in lying your head on an expectant mother's stomache,knowing that a little person is forming in there.
Love is bestowed upon the fetus as soon as it makes itself known,and people can think whatever they want,a fetus is just as precious as a full grown baby.

Answer 5

Mr. Wizards Girl...my guess is you are not a mother...yet. I have never, in my entire lifetime of experiences, heard a mother say the child she gave birth to was a parasite until it was 7 months in the womb. As to "the quickening", a preborn baby still has every bit of the genetic code within it to become the INDIVIDUAL that it is going to be from the time of conception, not from the time of the first time a mother feels that flutter within her...a moment she is waiting and longing for from the time she knows she is pregnant, by the way. Perhaps science is not the field in which to look for the answers to a question such as this.

Answer 6

a fetus is a baby but not all of that formed cause it takes approximately 9 months to be completely formed however people who believes that a fetus is not a baby then why is against the law to do an abortion; means that a fetus is a living human in process of formation.

Answer 7

How can anyone say a fetus isnt a baby?? At the minute of conception that is a baby! I have no idea how anyone could think differently. Abortion at any point in a pregnancy in my opinion is murder, no if ands buts about that!!!

Answer 8

A fetus is just a technical term for a pre born human baby. Yes, it is a human...we don't give birth to say, cats. Interestingly enough, there are laws to protect pre-born baby from crimes against everyone except its mother.

Answer 9

Hi. Search for 'quickening'.