Some say that abortion does not destroy a human life because we can’t know exactly when life begins. This is a false statement. Life is commonly defined as organisms that “maintain homeostasis, are composed of cells, have a life cycle, undergo metabolism, can grow, adapt to their environment, respond to stimuli, reproduce and evolve.”
Any basic physiology textbook will tell you that at the moment of fertilization, a one-celled human embryo with a complete set of 46 chromosomes comes into existence that is uniquely different from that of either parent. This one-celled embryo will then begin dividing and growing rapidly. Basic obstetrics textbooks tell us that a biomolecular communication system is established between the zygote/blastocyst/embryo/fetus and mother that is operative from before the time of implantation and persists through the time of birth.
In an unborn child, the precursor to the nervous system appears between days 12 and 17. By 21 days after conception, the heart starts beating and pumping blood; by 30 days, arms, legs, and brain begin to form; and by 35 days, mouth, nose, and ears begin to develop. By 9 weeks, fingernails are forming, and he can be seen on the sonogram sucking his thumb; by 10 weeks, he squints, swallows, and frowns; by 12 weeks, he smiles and has intricate hand and feet movements.
For more, see our new publication Top 10 Myths About Abortion.