Roe v. Wade is gone.

[John 6IX Breezy]

They have the potential to become something.  Arguing that simply because something has a potential to become something that they should be treated as the completed thing is no less devoid of facts.

I would say that sperm is what has reproductive potential, and conception is the tipping point that transforms that potential into the developing organism.

Now, when I use the phrase developing organism, I don't mean that the end result of that development is the emergence of the organism. What I mean is that the organism itself has begun to pass through stages of development. So I agree with you, but the potential we should be talking about isn't whether one stage of development can reach another stage, it's whether any of those stages precedes the organism.