More Utterances from a GOP House Science Committee Member

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by mezz

Where does a human life begin?

That's not a scientific question. It's a philosophical one and not all religions are in agreement there.

The most practical answer is that human life begins at the point of viability, or the point at which a fetus can survive on its own.

That's around 6 or 7 months (I think). Early Christians put it at the moment of "quickening". That's the moment that the mother first feels the child moving inside her. Somewhat later, in the Dark Ages, Christianity permitted abortion if the aborted fetus didn't look human.

Jews, at around the time of Christ considered that a child wasn't fully human until it had survived for a month.

This whole thing about being human at the time of conception is very recent and, again, philosophical rather than scientific.

John