• Question: When do you think life begins, as and embryo, when born and why ?

    Asked by 07thomsonc to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith, Vicki on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Great question.

      In my opinion life begins as an embryo because as an embryo life has gone from just a ball of cells to a developing organised structure.

    • Photo: Vicki Stevenson

      Vicki Stevenson answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hi – this is a tricky one which very much depends on people’s perceptions. I think that life begins when the baby can survive by itself outside of it’s mothers womb, even if that requires medical assistance such as ventilators to help the baby to develop. However, this is a grey area – some premature babies never reach a point where they can survive without such medical assistance. I think that if the baby cannot survive (eventually) without the medical intervention, then it wasn’t meant to be. I realise other people will have different views.

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      I think that life begins at the point of conception (so, as early as possible). The cells are alive, and are genentically distinct from their parents. However, the I think that the more important point is where the baby/foetus is self-aware (i.e. knows that it exists in some way). But this is really not very precise – I think that such self-awareness comes on slowly.

      One of the big questions this raises is the question of when abortion should be allowed. A normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, babies have been kept alive after a gestation (length of pregnancy) of just 23 weeks, but abortion in the UK is allowed at 24 weeks. I think that 24 weeks is far too late, and that the law needs to change to reduced this. I’d suggest 18-20 weeks, but mainly for practical reasons – the mother needs time to make the necessary very important decisions about her own body, the results of some medical tests (some ultrasound tests) might not be available until about 16-18 weeks, and yet at 18-20 the foetus is still not viable (i.e. capable of independent life). One of the really uncomfortable issues here is that even at 18 weeks the foetus looks like a baby.

      So, this sought of decision is one that shouldn’t be left to scientists, but should involve the whole community making decisions.

    • Photo: Emma Carter

      Emma Carter answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      I think it’s fair to say that life begins as an embyro – but it may not be a viable embryo and so it could naturally be passed out by the body if it isn’t. Some women may not even realise they are pregnant before their baby is miscarried because it happens within the first couple of weeks.

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