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Originally posted by Say_hello_for_me
Big surprise here, but the "when" part apparently went right over your head. Or maybe you are just being argumentative.
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The when part did not go over my head. Can a dead oocyte be fertilized? Can a dead sperm fertilzed an egg? If the egg and the sperm are living when they merge, does the fertilized egg then die for a period before it comes back to life? Of course the fetus is alive (unless of course it dies spontaneously or you kill him or her).
Regarding whether an organism is human or not, this is determined by the organism's genetic material.
These are simple concepts and not part of the body of law regarding abortion rights. The right to an abortion is about substantive due process of the mother, not whether the unborn child is alive or whether the unborn child is a human. Of course the unborn child is alive and is human.
The abortion case law is about whether the mother's right to control her own body outweighs the state's interest in protecting unborn human life. The Supremes then drew a line at viability outside the womb as the point where the state has more ability to regulate the mother. However, they drew that line in terms of trimesters, which doesn't medically make sense since viability varies from fetus to fetus and changes with technological advances.
