re: #760 Naso Tang

A group of cells that has the potential to become a human is not unconscious. There is something fundamentally dishonest about your style of argument.

A-conscious in the sense that a rock is without thought. A-conscious is not an English word, so I chose the closest word I knew. If I inadvertently made a logical fallacy by using malaria to illustrate my idea, then ignore the malaria comment.

The zygote, blastula, gastrula, organogenesis and fetus are all stages in human life. Should the mother reject this life, as often happens, this too is a natural part of life. You may disagree. You may think my belief sucks and is unscientific. You are free to do so. I think that the distinction between potential and actual life is being misused: a human zygote (one cell) or blastula is a human being. A muscle cell or a kidney is not. Simply because an embryo or fetus is unable to live on its own does not make it somehow different than a premature infant that must stay in an ICU to live.

That my graduate studies were done at a seminary might give you insight into why I hold these views.