Domspeak Forums Discussions Off Topic & Politics When Life Begins (QotD)

Correct Answer 2. Fertilization
Correct Answer Rate 90%

The American Heritage Dictionary of Science states that the four defining attributes of life are “growth, reproduction, metabolism, and response to stimuli,” and scientific publications show that all of these attributes are present during or soon after fertilization. Thus, clinical literature is explicit that each new human life begins at fertilization. For example, the medical textbook The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology states that fertilization “is the beginning of a new human being.” Likewise, The Encyclopedia & Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing & Allied Health states that “human reproduction” is “the process by which the male’s sperm unites with the female’s oocyte, creating a new life.” This is not just a form of human life like a skin cell, but an actual human life. As explained in Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, “At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun.”

Documentation:
When Life Begins
Human Development