1. Do you believe life begins at conception (fertilization)?

This has unfortunately become a confusing subject in recent decades because some in the medical, scientific and other disciplines are attempting to arbitrarily re-define when human life begins according to philosophical, ideological or other changeable criteria. Such re-definition conveniently legitimizes destructive embryo experimentation, early abortion and other abuses of early human lives.

The following are excerpts from the article “When do Human Beings Begin? “Scientific Myths and Scientific Facts by Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.
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The question as to when a human being begins is strictly a scientific question, and should be answered by human embryologists. The question as to when a human person begins is a philosophical question.

Basic human embryological facts
Upon fertilization, or upon creation of a clone, parts of human beings have actually been transformed into something very different from what they were before; they have been changed into a single, whole human being. During the process of fertilization, the sperm and the oocyte cease to exist as such, and a new human being is produced.

To understand this, it should be remembered that each kind of living organism has a specific number and quality of chromosomes that are characteristic for each member of a species.

The characteristic number of chromosomes for a member of the human species is 46 (plus or minus, e.g., in human beings with Down's or Turner's syndromes). Every cell in a human being has this characteristic number of chromosomes.

The commonly used term, "fertilized egg," is especially very misleading, since there is really no longer an egg (or oocyte) once fertilization has begun. What is being called a "fertilized egg" is not an egg of any sort; it is a human being.

The fusion of the sperm (with 23 chromosomes) and the oocyte (with 23 chromosomes) at fertilization results in a live human being, a single-cell human zygote, with 46 chromosomes-the number of chromosomes characteristic of an individual member of the human species.

Abortion is the destruction of a human being. Destroying a human sperm or a human oocyte would not constitute abortion, since neither are human beings. The issue is not when does human life begin, but rather when does the life of every human being begin. A sperm or an oocyte all possess human life, but they are not human beings-they are only parts of a human being.

A human zygote is a human being. It is not a "potential" or a "possible" human being.

The "morning-after pill," RU486, and the IUD can be abortifacient, if fertilization has taken place. Then they would act to prevent the implantation of an already existing human embryo-the blastocyst-which is an existing human being.