When does science say life begins ?

Question

I read where people who are against abortion say "Religion didn't decide when life began, science did ." . The point was that science determined that life begins during a woman's pregnancy, but that was years ago, and I'm vague on the details . When DOES science say life begins ?

Answer 1

I haven't got a clue about science but i think life def begins when the egg is first fertilized Ive heard that when a woman goes in for an abortion the fetus curls up to the top of the womb to get away. Not sure if this is true.

Answer 2

Your question isn't worded properly. You are interested in knowing when a baby is considered a sentient being. As far as a concenus about abortion....different scientists have different opinions. There is no 'right' answer.

You say 'science' as if there is a meeting once a week where all the scientists in the world get together and discuss issues. This isn't the case. 'Science' covers a vast amount of information. An OB/GYN may have a different opinion than a surgeon. And the rocket scientist across the street really doesn't care one way or the other.

Answer 3

It's actually debated heavily, and there are conflicting resolutions. It's really a matter of opinion, even for a scientist, but the general consensus is the moment that the egg is fertilized by the sperm, and a zygote is beginning to form at the earliest stages, i.e. as soon as the first cell divides.
That's the physical description of the process anyway. A cell itself is considered "life" by science too. Anything, even primitive, that is "living" with a nucleus is considered life. That's why a virus is considered life.

Answer 4

Life, or sentience/consciousness?

Trees are alive, but as far as we know, they are not sentient.

When an egg is fertilized by a sperm, it begins to travel down to the uterus so that it can implant into the wall. In that super short time, the egg goes from being one cell, to dividing and being a little ball of about 100 cells. Cell division is generally something only live things do. But is that little ball of cells (called a blastocyst) sentient? I'd bet that its not. So honestly, the answer depends on how you want to define being alive.

Answer 5

According to the AMA, a pregnancy begins with the fertilized egg attaches to the wall of the uterus. When does life begin? I'm not sure that the AMA defines it.

Catherine

Answer 6

I think I have read that its when the fetus can survive outside of the womb at that point its a person and not just a fetus. That is also the way the law looks at it.