When does life begin? Flashcards
eight ideas about when life
>conception >Viability >birth >Implantation >Quickening >Personhood >Brain activity >primitive streak
Criterias of personhood
Consciousness, reasoing, self motivated activity, capacity to communicate, self awareness
Problem with personhood
Technically a fetus and a new born baby equally don’t full fill the criteria of personhood, neither does two week year old baby
Who thinks that conception is strictly when life begins?
Catholic church- from this point onwards the fetus must be treated as a person.
Why must the fetes be respected from conception
potential for human life, own DNA, therefore an individual
when and what is viability
around 21 weeks, when the baby can technically survive outside the womb- most common theory
when and what is implantation
a week after conception, when the fertilised eft is implanted into the womb
when and what is quickening
around 16 weeks after fertilisation- when the baby moves for the first time.
where did the idea of quickening come from?
a now abandoned christian theory that this was the moment the fetus gained its soul.
why do most people not accept quickening
because the baby moves far before you can feel it
why is birth a popular idea of when ice starts
the baby is now its own individual. it is a clear and unambiguous date
Why are there questions with life starting at birth?
Does life begin when part of the baby is outside the mothers body? When the whole baby is outside the body or when the baby is separated from the placenta
what is Thomas Equinas theory
he suggested a baby boy could be aborted at 40 days and a baby girl could be aborted at 90 days
Some people believe life begins at brain activity..
logical point, it marks a necessary state for many of the characteristics that many people think moral person possess
