When does life begin?

[Parafox]

The new Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt,

wants to reduce the time limit on abortion from 24 weeks to 12 as this is deemed when life begins.

Now, I'm not pro or anti abortion as far as it goes, but surely life begins when the egg is fertilised. For cells to develop and divide they have to have "life" IThey would not survive outside the human body, except within labotatory conditions.

Or does life begin with the development of circulation? The heart? The brain?

When, how??

Hunt Said

"I'm not someone who thinks that abortion should be made illegal. Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when that moment is and my own view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it."

This apparently is not based on any medical or scientific evidence.

[Guest BlueBrett]

I don't know but I've always thought 28 weeks was far too late. There have even been cases where 28 week births have survived so in my view the limit needed tightening. I'll leave it to others more qualified to determine the extent

[Houdini Logic]

Always a difficult one. Personally if the foetus is at a stage where it knows no different (which could be argued up until and maybe even beyond when it is born I guess) then I don't have an issue as long as it's for the right reasons. Then again defining the right reasons is probably a thread in itself.

[Steven]

Life begins when one is born.

[Jon the Hat]

There is little or no common ground to be had here. A very personal issue.

[Bellend Sebastian]

When you've met me

[ADK]

To be honest i can't remember anything before i was two.

I don't like the idea of a women being forced to have a baby that she dosn't want

[pSinatra]

To be honest i can't remember anything before i was two.

I don't like the idea of a women being forced to have a baby that she doesn't want

I don't like the idea of a man being forced to have a baby he doesn't want. I've found myself in this position before.....with someone who simply wanted to get pregnant & bollocks to anyone else. I had a lucky escape!!

I have known women who have had abortions.......one or two have been seriously traumatised by the whole experience & others that haven't given it another thought. It's very much a personal issue

[Bellend Sebastian]

Let's not forget that Jem Hunt doesn't know his arse from his elbow on matters of medical science.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100179258/jeremy-hunt-health-secretary-thinks-homeopathy-works/

Not that it matters, it's not like he's Secretary of state for Health or anything. Oh wait a minute, he is

[Hollism]

When does life end? When the heart stops.

So when should it be defined as starting? When the heart starts to beat.

It's obviously all open to discussion and debate though, hence this thread and so many like it. I would never object to someone having an abortion even after 28 weeks if that was what they wanted.

[marty78]

When does life end? When the heart stops.

So when should it be defined as starting? When the heart starts to beat.

When the brain stops functioning rather than the heart I think. A heart can be re-started.

[Guest BlueBrett]

I would never object to someone having an abortion even after 28 weeks if that was what they wanted.

But why couldn't they have decided earlier in the pregnancy that that was what they wanted? Unless there are medical complications I think it's pretty selfish to leave it that late.

[Captain...]

When the brain stops functioning rather than the heart I think. A heart can be re-started.

Well again it is a grey area, you can be technically brain dead and still alive, but I know what you mean.

Switching of a life support machine when someone is brain dead is ok, so in the same way it is ok to abort a foetus if it shows no brain activity, I am not sure what that age is, but I would hazard a guess at about 28 weeks.

[Webbo]

When does life end? When the heart stops.

So when should it be defined as starting? When the heart starts to beat.

It's obviously all open to discussion and debate though, hence this thread and so many like it. I would never object to someone having an abortion even after 28 weeks if that was what they wanted.

If a baby was born prematurely at 28 weeks there is a good chance it would survive. Would you say it was ok for the mother to kill that baby if she decided that she didn't want it anymore?

[ADK]

If a baby was born prematurely at 28 weeks there is a good chance it would survive. Would you say it was ok for the mother to kill that baby if she decided that she didn't want it anymore?

Personally it wouldn't bother me, we arnt exactly short of babies.

[Guest MattP]

Personally it wouldn't bother me, we arnt exactly short of babies.

Erm? That's not serious is it?

[Harry - LCFC]

It shouldn't take you that long to make your decision on whether you want the baby or not.

You should know at any point in your life whether you want to have a child or not - it's a very big thing. To be deciding that you don't want a baby when you've had ample time to have an abortion is ridiculous. I'm not against abortion but I am against people who are "unsure" and take that long to come to a decision.

[Parafox]

This is becoming an abortion debate now, which is not the point of my OP.

Guess it was always gonna turn to that, though.

[Zingari]

This is becoming an abortion debate now, which is not the point of my OP.

Guess it was always gonna turn to that, though.

I should think the obvious answer in biological terms is that life begins at the moment of conception or when the sperm fertilizes the egg.

Any other debate must eventually focus on the morality and/or timing of termination.

[ADK]

This is becoming an abortion debate now, which is not the point of my OP.

Guess it was always gonna turn to that, though.

If you want a scientific definition then i'm not sure there is a single agreed upon definition.

Sperm or ova on their own might not be considered life as they cannot reproduce on their own i think?

I would have thought after conception you would definately have life.

[Vacamion]

A 150 cell Blastocyst (ie a young embryo, shaped like a ball of cells that are yet to differentiate) is considered by the US govt and the Catholic Church to be so 'alive' that stem cell research on it is wrong, even if that research could alleviate the suffering of millions.", and despite the fact that the blastocyst has no nerves and can feel no pain or sense no consciousness.

Conversely, a fly's brain has a few 10s of thousands of cells, yet most of us think nothing of swatting a fly.

As such, I don't like arbitary borders being imposed.

From a genetic point of view, life began once and continued, first via replication then via sexual reproduction, up to the present day, so there is no 'start' of life, it just goes on and on...

[Webbo]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/eight-years-in-jail-for-woman-who-aborted-almostfullterm-baby-8144448.html

A “cold and calculating†mother has been jailed for eight years after robbing her unborn baby boy of his chance of life when she aborted him within a week of his due date.

Sarah Catt, who was married but had been having an affair for seven years, was around 40-weeks pregnant when she took drugs she bought on the internet to induce her labour.

She claimed the baby was stillborn and she buried his body, but has since refused to tell anyone where to find her son.

Catt, who showed no emotion during the hour-long sentencing, was described as "cold and calculating" by police, who searched her home with dogs and specialist equipment to try to find the child's body.

Mr Justice Cooke said the seriousness of the crime lay between manslaughter and murder.

He said she would have been charged with murder if the baby had been born a few days later and she had then killed him.

[ADK]

Seems abit daft to lock a woman up for that. Just my opinion.

[Guest BlueBrett]

He said she would have been charged with murder if the baby had been born a few days later and she had then killed him

no shit

[21st Century Fox]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCWC4sHbIV0