RE: Pro-life atheists
May 26, 2014 at 11:48 pm
(This post was last modified: May 26, 2014 at 11:48 pm by Losty.)
(May 26, 2014 at 11:33 pm)Heywood Wrote:(May 26, 2014 at 11:28 pm)Chas Wrote: Good, because a fetus isn't an organism.
Merriam-Webster
or·gan·ism
noun \ˈȯr-gə-ˌni-zəm\
: an individual living thing
Biology Online
Organism
noun, plural: organisms
(Science: Biology)
An individual living thing that can react to stimuli, reproduce, grow, and maintain homeostasis. It can be a virus, bacterium, protist, fungus, plant or an animal.
Medical Dictionary
organism or·gan·ism (ôr'gə-nĭz'əm)
n.
An individual form of life, such as a plant, an animal, a bacterium,
a protist, or a fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other
parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.
Embryos have a cellular body that contains organelles that work together to carry on the various processes of life.
(May 26, 2014 at 11:31 pm)Losty Wrote: Really all by themselves? So if you just leave that embryo in its Petri dish it will continue to engage in homeostasis? No. It will die.
Well you will die too if the beneficial bacteria are removed from your gut. You are not viable as an individual.
But really...embryos do engage in cellular homeostasis. Embryos meet the text book definitions of organisms.
I'm not talking about removing anything from myself or a fetus' body. No amount of love, breast milk and diaper changing will keep a fetus alive if it is not hooked up to an independent life form (a human being). It cannot engage in homeostasis on its own.
A fetus is a non-sentient living being with human DNA. It cannot think or feel, and it is not aware of its own existence.