I am a pro-life atheist

[Rev. Rye]

Here is where I diverge:

Step 1: Why is human life particularly valuable, besides the fact that we are humans ourselves?
Step 2: The best answer one can come up with that makes human beings unique is our ability (or at least potential) to think rationally.
Step 3: A conditio sine qua non for (or inevitable byproduct of) thinking rationally is measurable brain activity in the cortex.
Step 3.5: The end of life is defined with brain death. Why should its start not be defined the same way?
Step 4: Since there is no credible evidence of any fetal cortical activity before about 150 days, it makes sense to say that human life truly begins around that time.

For what it's worth, I got the basis of this argument from Carl Sagan's essay on abortion: http://www.2think.org/abortion.shtml
That said, I placed the beginning about a month before Sagan did, but it's still worth reading.

Also, here's another resource: http://eileen.undonet.com/Main/infrmdC/Brain_Waves.htm

Here's my 2 cents, anyway.