dsr wrote:Thank you. So Mosby's medical dictionary officially confirms that a foetus is a human being. So many people would have refused to post that link when it went against the point they were trying to make; good for you.
"fetus [fē′təs]
Etymology: L, fruitful
the unborn offspring of any viviparous animal after it has attained the particular form of the species; more specifically the human being in utero after the embryonic period and the beginning of the development of the major structural features, from the ninth week after fertilization until birth. Kinds of fetal anomalies include anideus, lithopedion, mummified fetus, parasitic fetus, and sirenomelia. Also spelled foetus. Compare embryo. See also prenatal development. fetal, foetal, adj.
Mosby's Medical Dictionary, 9th edition. © 2009, Elsevier."
Well, yes, I suppose.
Remember when I said that the general consensus is that human life begins somewhere between 14 and 21 weeks? Well,one description of foetus from my link is "In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception
to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo." (emphasis mine), so it's certainly fair to say that a foetus becomes a human being as it develops, and I never meant to suggest otherwise - I'm certainly not in support of a woman's right to choose an abortion all the way up until the very end of her pregnancy.
However, another definition from the link includes the following ... "At 10 weeks, the fetus measures about 2.5 cm from the crown of the head to the rump. The face is formed but the eyelids are fused together. The brain is in a primitive state,
incapable of any meaningful form of consciousness." (emphasis mine again)
Now I would argue that a "baby" or "human being" must, by definition, have consciousness. Without it, it's just a clump of (human) cells.