Right to Life & Beginning of Human Life: Scientific Myths & Facts

The point of contention during the oral arguments last July 9 was the beginning of human life.

1. The DVD film "Blood Money" answers that.  A more comprehensive discussion can be found in the bloodmoneyfilm website.

http://bloodmoneyfilm.com/blog/right-to-life

To Deny the Right to Life, We Must Know When Life Begins

During his majority opinion during the Roe v Wade trial of 1973, Justice Harry Blackmun said,

“The judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to… resolve the difficult question of when life begins… since those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus.” (Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113. 1973)

In other words, since various religions, philosophers, and scientists were not been able to agree on when life begins, the court would not take a position on when life begins. 

To have made such a statement in 1973 was both historically and scientifically dishonest, and suggests that Blackmun was either woefully ignorant of advances in biology, or had other unscientific motivations for ruling as he did. [More...http://bloodmoneyfilm.com/blog/right-to-life]

2. When do Human Beings Begin: Scientific Myths and Scientific Facts  by Dianne Irving, MA, PhD. 

International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 1999, 19:3/4:22-36

http://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/wdhbb.html

http://www.l4l.org/library/mythfact.html

O'Rahilly defines fertilization as:

"... the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments, and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes at metaphase of the first mitotic division of the zygote.  The zygote is characteristic of the last phase of fertilization and is identified by the first cleavage spindle.  It is a unicellular embryo."⁹  (Emphasis added.)

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.  Quoting Moore:

"Zygote: This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm.  A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).  The expression fertilized ovum refers to a secondary oocyte that is impregnated by a sperm; when fertilization is complete, the oocyte becomes a zygote."¹⁰  (Emphasis added.)

This new single-cell human being immediately produces specifically human proteins and enzymes¹¹(not carrot or frog enzymes and proteins), and genetically directs his/her own growth and development.  (In fact, this genetic growth and development has been proven not to be directed by the mother.)¹²  Finally, this new human being — the single-cell human zygote — is biologically anindividual, a living organism — an individual member of the human species.  Quoting Larsen:

"... [W]e begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development ofa new individual."¹³  (Emphasis added.)

In sum, a human sperm and a human oocyte are products of gametogenesis — each has only 23 chromosomes.  They each have only half of the required number of chromosomes for a human being.  They cannot singly develop further into human beings.  They produce only "gamete" proteins and enzymes.  They do not direct their own growth and development.  And they are not individuals, i.e., members of the human species.  They are only parts — each one a part of a human being.  On the other hand, a human being is the immediate product of fertilization.  As such he/she is a single-cell embryonic zygote, an organism with 46 chromosomes, the number required of a member of the human species.  This human being immediately produces specifically human proteins and enzymes, directs his/her own further growth and development as human, and is a new, genetically unique, newly existing, live human individual.

After fertilization the single-cell human embryo doesn't become another kind of thing.  It simply divides and grows bigger and bigger, developing through several stages as an embryo over an 8-week period.  Several of these developmental stages of the growing embryo are given special names, e.g., a morula (about 4 days), a blastocyst (5-7 days), a bilaminar (two layer) embryo (during the second week), and a trilaminar (3-layer) embryo (during the third week).¹⁴

3. Submission to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee: Inquiry into Research involving Embryos and Prohibition of Human Cloning Bill 2002

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/completed_inquiries/2002-04/emb_cloning/submissions/sub1082.doc

Conclusion:

• The consensus of human embryologists internationally is that human life begins at conception.
• Ethical research is good research. Research that destroys a human embryo is not ethical.
• Universally accepted principles governing experiments on human subjects are being questioned in the current debate on embryonic stem cell research.  These principles have been ignored in the past to the detriment of human society.

Yours sincerely

Sue Russell, 4/150 Wellington Street, Bondi Beach  NSW  2026

4. For therapeutic cloning purposes, the richest source of embryonic stem cells is tissue formed during the first five days after the egg has started to divide (after fertilization, before implantation). At this stage of development, called the blastocyst, the embryo consists of a cluster of about 100 cells that can become any cell type. Stem cells are harvested from cloned embryos at this stage of development, resulting in destruction of the embryo while it is still in the test tube.

Therapeutic cloning involves creating a cloned embryo for the sole purpose of producing embryonic stem cells with the same DNA as the donor cell. These stem cells can be used in experiments aimed at understanding disease and developing new treatments for disease. http://www.genome.gov/25020028

If stem cells at Day 5 post-fertilization are used for therapeutic cloning, we can deduce that these scientists think that human life is already present at this time.

5. For pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) purposes, one to two cells are removed from the embryo at the eight cell stage (3 days after fertilization) or at blastocyst stage (5 days after fertilization), for genetic testing.

PGD involves testing for certain genetic conditions in an embryo created using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), prior to transferring it to the uterus and allowing it to develop normally. After hormonal stimulation of the woman’s ovaries, some eggs are removed and then fertilised in the laboratory with sperm. One to two cells are removed from the embryo at the eight cell stage (after 3 days) or at blastocyst stage (after 5 days), for testing. Only those embryos that do not have the specific genetic condition that was tested for will be transplanted into the woman’s uterus. http://www.genetics.edu.au/FS18.pdf

Again, if one to two cells are removed from the embryo at the eight cell stage (3 days after fertilization) or at blastocyst stage (5 days after fertilization) are used for genetic testing, we can deduce that these doctors/scientists think that human life is already present at this time.