2021 Report: Scientific, Legal, Pro-Life, & Pro-Choice Sources On When A Human's Life Begins

2021 Report
Scientific, Legal, Pro-Life, & Pro-Choice

Sources on When a Human’s Life Begins
Table of Contents
1
I. Scientific Sources Page 003
II. Legal Sources Page 096
III. Pro-Life Sources Page 123
IV. Pro-Choice Sources Page 150
V. Additional Sources Page 189
Scientific Source #1
“Fertilization' is the process of union of two gametes (i.e., ovum and sperm) whereby the somatic
chromosome number is restored and the development of a new individual is initiated"1
1
Fertilization, Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Jun. 24, 2020, https://www.merriam-webster.com/
2
"[E]mbryo: An organism in the earliest stage of development; is a man, from the time of
conception to the end of the second month in the uterus"2
dictionary/fertilization.
2
Harper Collins Illustrated Medical Dictionary, New York: Harper Perennial, 1993, p. 146.
3
“Zygote. This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm during fertilization. A zygote
or embryo is the beginning of a new human being.”3
3
Moore, K.L., The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 8th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007. p. 2.
4
“Zygote. This cell, formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new
human being.”4
4
Moore, K.L. & Persaud, T.V.N., Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects, 7th ed.,
Philadelphia: Saunders, 2008, p. 2.
5
“Note on the meaning of scientific terminology for human development: "Organism" is the
scientific name for a living human being. Only organisms undergo development. "Zygote" is the
one-cell human organism produced by sperm-egg fusion. "Embryo" is a human organism during
the first eight weeks of development”5
5
Condic, M.L., The Origin of Human Life at Fertilization: Quotes Compiled from Medical Textbooks and Peer-
Reviewed Scientific Literature, Bioethics Defense Fund, 2017, https://bdfund.org/wp-
6
“Fertilization is the union of gametes to initiate development of a new individual”6
content/uploads/2016/05/Condic-Sources-Embryology.pdf-old.
6
Machaty, Z., Miller, A.R., & Zhang, L., Egg Activation at Fertilization, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2017, 953:1-47,
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27975269.
7
“Fertilization-the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism-is the culmination of a multitude

of intricately regulated cellular processes”7
7
Marcello, M.R., Singaravelu, G., & Singson, A., Fertilization, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2013, 757:321-50,
8
“In multicellular organisms the fusion of two gametes with a haploid set of chromosomes leads
to the formation of the zygote, the first cell of the embryo”8
8
El Yakoubi, W. & Wassmann, K., Meiotic Divisions: No Place for Gender Equality, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2017,
1002:1-17, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28600780.
9
"The oocyte-to-embryo transition refers to the process whereby a fully grown, relatively
quiescent oocyte undergoes maturation, fertilization, and is converted into a developmentally
active, mitotically dividing embryo, arguably one of the most dramatic transitions in biology"9
9
Robertson, S. & Lin, R., The oocyte-to-embryo transition, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2013, 757:351-72,
10
“In higher animals, the beginning of new life and transfer of genetic material to the next
generation occurs in the oviduct when two distinct gametes cells unite resulting in the formation
of a zygote.”10
10
Salilew-Wondim, D., Schellander, K., Hoelker, M., & Tesfaye, D., Oviductal, endometrial and embryonic gene
expression patterns as molecular clues for pregnancy establishment, Anim Reprod Sci, 2012, 134(1-2):9-18,
11
“A crucial step of fertilization is the sperm-egg interaction that allows the two gametes to fuse
and create the zygote”11
11
Evans, J.P., Sperm-egg interaction, Annu Rev Physiol. 2012, 74:477-502,
12
“At the end of oogenesis and spermatogenesis, both haploid gametes contain a single set of
chromosomes ready to form the zygote, the first cell of the newly developing individual”12
12
Gat, I. & Orvieto, R., “This is where it all started” - the pivotal role of PLCζ within the sophisticated process of
mammalian reproduction: a systemic review, Basic Clin Androl, 2017, 21;27:9,
13
“We have discovered that a single sperm protein, phospholipase C-zeta (PLCζ), can stimulate
intracellular Ca(2+) signalling in the unfertilized oocyte (‘egg’) culminating in the initiation of
embryonic development. Upon fertilization by a spermatozoon, the earliest observed signalling
event in the dormant egg is a large, transient increase in free Ca(2+) concentration. The fertilized
egg responds to the intracellular Ca(2+) rise by completing meiosis“13
13
Nomikos, M., Swann, K., & Lai, F.A., Starting a new life: sperm PLC-zeta mobilizes the Ca2+ signal that
induces egg activation and embryo development: an essential phospholipase C with implications for male infertility,
Bioessays, 2012, 34(2):126-34, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22086556.
14
"The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that
human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The
very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but
taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable
auspices. It is suggested that this schizophrenic sort of subterfuge is necessary because while a
new ethic is being accepted the old one has not yet been rejected"14
14
A New Ethic for Medicine and Society, Editorial, California Medicine 113, September 1970, p. 67-68,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1501625/pdf/califmed00133-0072b.pdf.
15
“Recognition between sperm and the egg surface marks the beginning of life in all sexually
reproducing organisms”15
15
Raj, I., Sadat, A.l., Hosseini, H., Dioguardi, E., Nishimura, K., Han, L., Villa, A., de Sanctis, D., & Jovine, L.,
Structural Basis of Egg Coat-Sperm Recognition at Fertilization, Cell, 2017, 169(7):1315-1326,
16
“Pronuclear/zygotic stage is the very first stage of life”16
16
Okada, Y. & Yamaguchi, K., Epigenetic modifications and reprogramming in paternal pronucleus: sperm,
preimplantation embryo, and beyond, Cell Mol Life Sci, 2017, 74(11):1957-1967,
17
“One of the most fundamental developmental transitions occurs at fertilization when two haploid
gametes join to initiate the development of a multicellular organism.”17
17
Nader, N., Kulkarni, R.P., Dib, M., & Machaca, K., How to make a good egg!: The need for remodeling of oocyte
Ca(2+) signaling to mediate the egg-to-embryo transition, Cell Calcium, 2013, 53(1):41-54,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0143416012002035?via%3Dihub.
18
"[F]ertilization is the process by which male and female haploid gametes (sperm and egg) unite
to produce a genetically distinct individual"18
18
Signorelli, J., Diaz, E.S., & Morales, P., Kinases, phosphatases and proteases during sperm capacitation, Cell
Tissue Res, 2012, 349(3):765, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221715537_
Kinases_phosphatases_and_proteases_during_sperm_capacitation.
19
“Ca2+ signaling plays a crucial role in virtually all cellular processes, from the origin of new life
at fertilization to the end of life when cells die”19
19
Santella, L., Ercolano, E., & Nusco, G.A., The cell cycle: a new entry in the field of Ca2+ signaling, Cell Mol Life
Sci, 2005, 62(21):2405-13, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16003492.
20
“Mammalian embryo development begins when the fertilizing sperm triggers a series of
elevations in the oocyte's intracellular free Ca(2+) concentration”20
20
Machaty, Z., Signal transduction in mammalian oocytes during fertilization, Cell Tissue Res, 2016, 363(1):169-
83, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282732457_Signal_transduction_in_
mammalian_oocytes_during_fertilization.
21
“Membrane fusion has an overarching influence on living organisms. The fusion of sperm and
egg membranes initiates the life of a sexually reproducing organism.”21
21
Marsden, H.R., Tomatsu, I., & Kros, A., Model systems for membrane fusion, Chem Soc Rev, 2011, 40(3):1572,
22
“It is intuitive that fertilization-the start of life-involves communication between a sperm cell and
an egg”22
22
Asano, A., Nelson-Harrington, J.L., & Travis, A.J., Membrane rafts regulate phospholipase B activation in
murine sperm, Commun Integr Biol, 2013, 6(6):e27362,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3984294/pdf/cib-6-e27362.pdf.
23
“Mammalian life, with all its complexity comes from a humble beginning of a single fertilized
egg cell”; “In mammals, a new generation begins when an oocyte is fertilized by a sperm to form
a zygote.”23
23
Leung, C.Y. & Zernicka-Goetz, M., Mapping the journey from totipotency to lineage specification in the mouse
embryo, Curr Opin Genet Dev, 2015, 34:71-6, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26343010.
24
“Activation of the egg by the sperm is the first, vital stage of embryogenesis”24
24
Hachem, A., Godwin, J., Ruas, M., Lee, H.C., Ferrer Buitrago, M., Ardestani, G., Bassett, A., Fox, S., Navarrete,
F., de Sutter, P., Heindryckx, B., Fissore, R., & Parrington J., PLCζ is the physiological trigger of the Ca2+
oscillations that induce embryogenesis in mammals but conception can occur in its absence, Development, 2017,
144(16):2914-2924, https://dev.biologists.org/content/144/16/2914.
25
“New parents anticipate their job begins at birth. Little do they know they have been exerting
control within the baby’s first cell since fertilization”25
25
Chu, D., Parental Control Begins at the Beginning, Genetics, 2016, 204(4):1377-1378,
https://www.genetics.org/content/genetics/204/4/1377.full-text.pdf.
26
“[A] new individual is derived from the fusion of a single sperm and egg...”26
26
Wilding, M., Coppola, G., De Icco, F., Arenare, L., Di Matteo, L., & Dale, B., Maternal non-Mendelian
inheritance of a reduced lifespan? A hypothesis, J Assist Reprod Genet, 2014, 31(6):637-43,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4048383.
27
“Fertilization is a complex process comprised of numerous steps. During fertilization, two highly
specialized and differentiated cells (sperm and egg) fuse and subsequently trigger the
development of an embryo from a quiescent, arrested oocyte”27
27
Marcello, M.R. & Singson, A., Fertilization and the oocyte-to-embryo transition in C. elegans, BMB Rep, 2010,
43(6):389-99. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20587328.
28
“Oocyte maturation is an essential cellular differentiation pathway that prepares the egg for
activation at fertilization leading to the initiation of embryogenesis”28
28
Machaca, K., Ca2+ signaling differentiation during oocyte maturation, J Cell Physiol, 2007, 213(2):331-40,
29
“In sexual organisms, division of the zygote initiates a new life cycle”29
29
Yang, K.J., Guo, L., Hou, X.L., Gong, H.Q., & Liu, C.M., ZYGOTE-ARREST 3 that encodes the tRNA ligase is
essential for zygote division in Arabidopsis, J Integr Plant Biol, 2017, 59(9):680-692,
https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.12561.
30
“The time of our conception is when we are most vulnerable to survival and growing as a healthy
human being”30
30
Norman, R.J. & Aust, N.Z., 2015 RANZCOG Arthur Wilson Memorial Oration 'From little things, big things
grow: The importance of periconception medicine', J Obstet Gynaecol, 2015, 55(6):535-40,
31
“Fertilization is the process that leads to the formation of a diploid zygote from two haploid
gametes”31
31
Lorenzetti, D., Poirier, C., Zhao, M., Overbeek, P.A., Harrison, W., & Bishop, C.E., A transgenic insertion on
mouse chromosome 17 inactivates a novel immunoglobulin superfamily gene potentially involved in sperm-egg
fusion, Mamm Genome, 2014, 25(3-4):141-8, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24275887.
32
“As representatives of the 60 trillion cells that make a human body, a sperm and an egg meet,
recognize each other, and fuse to create a new generation”32
32
Inoue, N. & Okabe, M., Sperm-egg fusion assay in mammals, Methods Mol Biol, 2008, 475:335-45,
33
“Mammalian life begins with a cell-cell fusion event, i.e. the fusion of the spermatozoid with the
oocyte”33
33
Willkomm, L. & Bloch, W., State of the art in cell-cell fusion, Methods Mol Biol, 2015, 1313:1,
34
“Sperm are remarkably complex cells with a singularly important mission: to deliver paternal
DNA and its associated factors to the oocyte to start a new life”34
34
Wu, T.F. & Chu, D.S., Sperm chromatin: fertile grounds for proteomic discovery of clinical tools, Mol Cell
Proteomics, 2008, 7(10):1876-86, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2559940.
35
“In mammals, egg activation is initiated by multiple cytosolic Ca(2+) transients (Ca(2+)
oscillations) that are triggered following delivery of a putative sperm factor from the
fertilizing sperm. The identity of this 'sperm factor' thus holds much significance, not only as
36
a vital component in creating a new life, but also for its potential therapeutic and diagnostic
value in human infertility”35
“Aging is a developmental process that begins with fertilization and ends up with death
involving a lot of environmental and genetic factors”36
35
Kashir, J., Nomikos, M., Swann, K., & Lai, F.A., PLCζ or PAWP: revisiting the putative mammalian sperm factor
that triggers egg activation and embryogenesis, Mol Hum Reprod, 2015, 21(5):383-8,
36
Ahmed, M.S., Ikram, S., Bibi, N., & Mir, A., Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome: A Premature Aging
Disease, Mol Neurobiol, 2017, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28660486.
37
“The seminal question in modern developmental biology is the origins of new life arising from
the unification of sperm and egg”37
37
Evsikov, A.V. & Marín de Evsikova, C., Gene expression during the oocyte-to-embryo transition in mammals,
Mol Reprod Dev, 2009, 76(9):805-18, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/
mrd.21038.
38
“When sperm meets egg: the spark of new life”38
38
Wozniak, K.L., Luque, G.M., & Ahn, S.H., When sperm meets egg: the spark of new life, Mol Reprod Dev, 2017,
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mrd.22857.
39
“After fertilization, to initiate development, gametes are reprogramed to become totipotent”39
39
Jachowicz, J.W., Bing, X., Pontabry, J., Bošković, A., Rando, O.J., & Torres-Padilla, M.E., LINE-1 activation
after fertilization regulates global chromatin accessibility in the early mouse embryo, Nat Genet, 2017,
49(10):1502-1510, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28846101.
40
"The life cycle of mammals begins when a sperm enters an egg."40
40
Okada, Y., Yamagata, K., Hong, K., Wakayama, T., & Zhang, I., A role for the elongator complex in zygotic
paternal genome demethylation, Nature, 2010, 463(7280):554-8,
41
“Representing the 60 trillion cells that build a human body, a sperm and an egg meet, recognize
each other, and fuse to form a new generation of life”41
41
Inoue, N., Ikawa, M., Isotani, A., & Okabe, M., The immunoglobulin superfamily protein Izumo is required for
sperm to fuse with eggs, Nature, 2005, 434(7030):234-8, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03362.
42
“Fertilization occurs when sperm and egg recognize each other and fuse to form a new,
genetically distinct organism”42
42
Bianchi, E., Doe, B., Goulding, D., & Wright, G.J., Juno is the egg Izumo receptor and is essential for
mammalian fertilization, Nature, 2014, 508(7497):483-7, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24739963.
43
“Fertilization is defined as the process of union of two gametes, eggs and sperm. When
mammalian eggs and sperm come into contact in the female oviduct, a series of steps is set in
motion that can lead to fertilization and ultimately to development of new individuals”43
43
Wassarman, P.M., Jovine, L., & Litscher, E.S., A profile of fertilization in mammals, Nat Cell Biol, 2001,
3(2):E59-64, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11175768.
44
“Fertilization is the culminating event in sexual reproduction and requires the recognition and
fusion of the haploid sperm and egg to form a new diploid organism”44
44
Bianchi, E. & Wright, G.J., Cross-species fertilization: the hamster egg receptor, Juno, binds the human sperm
ligand, Izumo1, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 2015, 370(1661):20140101,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4275915/pdf/rstb20140101.pdf.
45
“A proper dialogue between spermatozoa and the egg is essential for conception of a new
individual in sexually reproducing animals. Ca(2+) is crucial in orchestrating this unique event
leading to a new life”45
45
Darszon A., Nishigaki, T., Beltran, C., & Treviño, C.L., Calcium channels in the development, maturation, and
function of spermatozoa, Physiol Rev, 2011, 91(4):1305-55,
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/pdf/10.1152/physrev.00028.2010.
46
“Fertilization is a process involving multiple steps that lead to the final fusion of one sperm and
oocyte to form the zygote”46
46
Sun, T.T., Chung, C.M., & Chan, H.C., Acrosome reaction in the cumulus oophorus revisited: involvement of a
novel sperm-released factor NYD-SP8, Protein Cell, 2011, 2(2):92-8, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21380641.
47
“Human life begins with sperm and oocyte fusion”47
47
Soygur, B. & Sati, L., The role of syncytins in human reproduction and reproductive organ cancers,
Reproduction, 2016, 152(5):R167-78, https://rep.bioscientifica.com/doi/10.1530/REP-16-0031.
48
"The oviduct or Fallopian tube is the anatomical region where every new life begins in
mammalian species. After a long journey, the spermatozoa meet the oocyte in the specific site of
the oviduct named ampulla, and fertilization takes place."48
48
Coy, P., Garcia-Vazquez, F.A., Visconti, P.E., & Aviles, M., Roles of the oviduct in mammalian fertilization,
Reproduction, 2012, 144(6):649, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4022750.
49
“In sexually reproducing organisms, embryogenesis begins with the fusion of two haploid
gametes”49
49
Tscherner, A., Gilchrist, G., Smith, N., Blondin, P., Gillis, D., & LaMarre, J., MicroRNA-34 family expression in
bovine gametes and preimplantation embryos, Reprod Biol Endocrinol, 2014, 12:85.
https://rbej.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1477-7827-12-85.
50
“Fertilization is the sum of the cellular mechanisms that pass the genome from one generation to
the next and initiate development of a new organism”50
50
Primakoff, P. & Myles, D.G., Penetration, adhesion, and fusion in mammalian sperm-egg interaction, Science,
2002, 296(5576):2183-5, https://science.sciencemag.org/content/296/5576/2183.full.
51
“At fertilization, eggs unite with sperm to initiate developmental programs that give rise to
development of the embryo. Defining the molecular mechanism of this fundamental process at
the beginning of life has been a key question in cell and developmental biology”51
51
Sato, K., Fukami, Y., & Stith, B.J., Signal transduction pathways leading to Ca2+ release in a vertebrate model
system: lessons from Xenopus eggs, Semin Cell Dev Biol, 2006, 17(2):285-92,
http://europepmc.org/article/med/16584903.
52
“At the time of fertilization, an increase in the intracellular Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i))
underlies egg activation and initiation of development in all species studied to date”52
52
Wakai, T., Vanderheyden, V., Yoon, S.Y., Cheon, B., Zhang, N., Parys, J.B., & Fissore, R.A., Regulation of
inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor function during mouse oocyte maturation, J Cell Physiol, 2012, 227(2):705-17,
53
“As the start of a new life cycle, activation of the first division of the zygote is a critical event in
both plants and animals”53
53
Guo, L., Jiang, L., Zhang, Y., Lu, X.L., Xie, Q., Weijers, D., & Liu, C.M., The anaphase-promoting complex
initiates zygote division in Arabidopsis through degradation of cyclin B1, Plant J, 2016, 86(2):161-74,
https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13158.
54
“The fusion of a sperm with an oocyte to form new life is a highly regulated event”54
54
Gadella, B.M. & Boerke, A., An update on post-ejaculatory remodeling of the sperm surface before mammalian
fertilization, Theriogenology, 2015, 85(1):113-24, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/263205
74.
55
“Most readers of this review originated from a sperm-egg fusion event”55
55
Oren-Suissa, M. & Podbilewicz, B., Cell fusion during development, Trends Cell Biol, 2007, 17(11):537-46,
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/5865696_Cell_fusion_during_development.
56
“In human sexual reproduction, both in vivo (inside the body) and in vitro (outside the body), the
biological beginning of a new human being/organism occurs at Carnegie Stage 1a, at first contact
of the sperm and the oocyte, the beginning of the biological process of fertilization.”56
56
Stanton, B., Science tells us when life begins. Why isn't it taught in the classroom?, Washington Examiner, 2018,
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/science-tells-us-when-life-begins-why-isnt-it-taught-in-the-classroom.
57
“Human development begins at fertilization when a male gamete or sperm unites with a female
gamete or oocyte to form a single cell, a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks
the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”57
57
Moore, K.L., The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 8th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007. p.
15.
58
“Human development is a continuous process that begins when an oocyte (ovum) from a female
is fertilized by a sperm (spermatozoon) from a male. Cell division, cell migration, programmed
cell death, differentiation, growth, and cell rearrangement transform the fertilized oocyte, a
highly specialized, totipotent cell, a zygote, into a multicellular human being.”58
58
Moore, K.L., The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 8th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders, 2007. p.
2.
59
"Development of the embryo begins at Stage 1 when a sperm fertilizes an oocyte and together
they form a zygote"59
59
England, M.A., Life Before Birth, 2nd ed., London: Mosby-Wolfe, 1996, p. 31.
60
“The term pre-embryo is useful in the political arena -- where decisions are made about whether
to allow early embryo (now called pre-embryo) experimentation -- as well as in the confines of a
doctor's office, where it can be used to allay moral concerns that might be expressed by IVF
patients. 'Don't worry,' a doctor might say, 'it's only pre-embryos that we're manipulating or
61
freezing. They won't turn into real human embryos until after we've put them back into your
body.”60
‘5,337 biologists affirmed the view that a human’s life begins at fertilization’61
60
Silver, L.M., Remaking Eden: Cloning and Beyond in a Brave New World, New York: Avon Books, 1997, p. 39.
61
Jacobs, S.A., Balancing Abortion Rights and Fetal Rights: A Mixed Methods Mediation of the U.S. Abortion
Debate, Knowledge@UChicago, 2019, https://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/1883.
62
“Overall, 95% of all biologists affirmed the biological view that a human’s life begins at
fertilization (5212 out of 5502)”62
62
Jacobs, S., Biologists' Consensus on 'When Life Begins', SSRN, 2018, https://ssrn.com/abstract=
3211703.
63
“During fertilization of an egg with a sperm, the haploid genomes of each parent are unified to
form the diploid genome of a new and unique individual.”63
63
Clift, D. & Schuh, M., Re-starting life: Fertilization and the transition from meiosis to mitosis, Nat Rev Mol Cell
Biol., 2013, 14(9): 549-562, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4021448.
64
“96% affirmed at least one of the five statements [that represented the view that a human’s life
begins at fertilization]”64
64
Jacobs, S., How Views on ‘When Life Begins’ Drive Americans’ Abortion Attitudes, Heterodox Academy: The
Blog, 2020, https://heterodoxacademy.org/social-science-abortion-attitudes.
65
"The scientific definition for the start point of any mammalian organism, including humans, is
“fertilization.” For humans, this happens when a sperm travels up a woman’s fallopian tube to
join with the woman’s egg after it’s been released."65
65
Harrison, D., The Science About When Life Begins Makes Pro-Choicers Look Terrible, The Federalist, Jun. 25,
2018, https://thefederalist.com/2018/06/25/science-life-begins-makes-pro-choicers-look-terrible.
66
“[E]ach individual human is initiated at fertilization. These are scientific answers, and do not
reflect my or anyone else’s opinions. These are facts, and not a matter of opinion"66
66
Walls, B., Pro-life science, pro-choice politics: Professors speak out about abortion research, The College Fix,
Oct. 10, 2019, https://www.thecollegefix.com/pro-life-science-pro-choice-politics-professors-speak-out-about-
abortion-research.
67
“Through fertilization, the egg and sperm are saved: the egg is activated to begin its
developmental program, and the haploid nuclei of the two gametes come together to form the
genome of a new diploid organism.”67
67
Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis J, et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition, New York: Garland Science,
2002, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054.
68
“The predominance of human biological research confirms that human life begins at conception
—fertilization. At fertilization, the human being emerges as a whole, genetically distinct,
individuated zygotic living human organism”68
68
When Human Life Begins, American College of Pediatricians, Mar. 2017, https://acpeds.org/position-
statements/when-human-life-begins.
69
"Well, there's absolutely no doubt, from the science of embryology, that a new human life is
created when the sperm and the egg unite"69
69
Delgado, G., Life begins at fertilization - Dr. George Delgado, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7By3wPcIRys.
70
"You and I all started at the single-celled embryo"70
70
Prentice, D., Dr. David Prentice on the science of life before birth, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1OAHcNOnaHg.
71
“Life has a very, very long history, but each individual has a very neat beginning--the moment of
its conception.”71
71
Testimony of Dr. Jerome LeJeune, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
Separation of Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 8.
72
“It is an established scientific fact. Theologians and philosophers may go on to debate the
meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it is an established fact that all life, including human
life, begins at the moment of conception.”72
72
Testimony of Dr. Hymie Gordon, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
73
“So, therefore, it is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at
conception, when egg and sperm join to form the zygote, and that this developing human always
is a member of our species in all stages of its life.73
73
Testimony of Dr. Micheline Mathews-Roth, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
Subcommittee on Separation of Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p.
17.
74
“If we are talking, then, about the biological beginning of a human life or lives, as distinct from
other human lives, the answer is most assuredly that it is at the time of conception — that is to
say, the time at which a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm”74
74
Testimony of Dr. Watson A. Bowes Jr., M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee
on Separation of Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 24.
75
“I have quizzed hundreds of doctors: ‘When do you think the actual human life begins?’ There is
no other answer except: ‘At the minute of conception.’”75
75
Testimony of Dr. McCarthy DeMere, J.D., M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
28.
76
"A new human being -- a new whole, individual, living human being -- begins to exist at the
beginning of the process of fertilization; at first contact between the sperm and the oocyte”76
76
The Scientific Reality Behind When Life Begins, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
TlzzDWKgByI at 1:35.
77
“I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood
and that interruption at any point constitutes termination of human life.”77
77
Testimony of Dr. Alfred M. Bongiovanni, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
41.
78
"The work of Edwards and his associates in England with test tube babies has repeatedly proved
that human life begins when after the ovum is fertilized”78
78
Testimony of Dr. Jasper Williams, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
79
"It is well-established that when a human sperm and ovum unite, the resultant zygote contains
the biological and genetic material of a new human organism”79
79
Testimony of Dr. Sherman M. Mellinkoff, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
70.
80
“The events of the first 24 hours following sperm-egg fusion are clearly unique, but they are also
clearly acts of a human organism, not acts of a mere human cell.”80
80
Swanson, K., The Facts of When Human Life Begins, Eternal World Television Network, Nov. 7, 2008,
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/facts-of-when-human-life-begins-9731.
81
“If the question is whether an individual human life in the sense of a new generation is
beginning, I think the consensus answer on that would be that genetically, yes, it [begins] at
fertilization because new genetic information is put together in fertilization”81
81
Testimony of Dr. Clifford Grobstein, Ph.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
82
“The union of these two specialized cells results in a fertilized egg which contains all the genetic
information necessary for the eventual development of a new being or new member of our
species”82
82
Prepared Statement of Dr. Jessica G. Davis, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
138.
83
“[T]he moment that the interaction at the cell wall begins [“fertilization”] that you begin the
continuous process that we know as “life,” I do not understand what people are talking about
when they say they do not have evidence of that point of transmission”83
83
Testimony of Dr. Mildred F. Jefferson, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee
on Separation of Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 118.
84
“I WILL MAINTAIN the utmost respect for human life from the time of conception; even under
threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity”84
84
DECLARATION OF GENEVA, Adopted by the General Assembly of The World Medical Association at Geneva,
Switzerland, Sep. 1948, https://www.wma.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Decl-of-Geneva-
v1948.pdf.
85
“If we have proved the existence of foetal life begin quickening has taken place or can take
place, and by all analogy and a close and conclusive process of induction, its commencement at
the very beginning, at conception itself, we are compelled to believe unjustifiable abortion
always a crime.”85
85
Storer, H.R., On Criminal Abortion in America, J.B. Lippincott & Co. (1860), p. 13,
https://books.google.com/books?id=4kprAAAAMAAJ.
86
“[T]he child is really alive from the very moment of its conception, and from that very moment
is, and should be considered, a distinct being”86
86
Suffolk District Medical Society Report of the Committee on Criminal Abortion. Boston, 1857, p. 8,
https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-10 1218760-bk.
87
“[Abortion is the] unwarrantable destruction of human life”87
87
The Transactions of the American Medical Association, 78 (1859).
https://ama.nmtvault.com/jsp/viewer.jsp?doc_id=ama_arch%252FAD200001%252F00000012
88
"To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no
longer a matter of taste or of opinion. The human nature of the human being from conception to
old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence."88
88
Testimony of Dr. Jerome LeJeune, M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
89
"An egg changes dramatically after fertilization mediating the beginning of life, which mainly
includes the transformation of the egg envelope via hardening"89
89
Wang Y, Chen F, He J, Xue G, Chen J, Xie P. Cellular and molecular modification of egg envelope
hardening in fertilization. Biochimie. 2021 Feb;181:134-144. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2020.12.007. Epub 2020
Dec 14. PMID: 33333173.
90
"After a long road, the questions raised by the Greeks about the beginning of life and the process
of generation of a new individual have taken us to clarifying life begins without any doubt in the
moment of fertilization."90
90
Ventura-Juncá, P. & Santos, M.J., The beginning of life of a new human being from the scientific
biological perspective and its bioethical implications, Biol Res 44: 201-207, 2011.
91
“In the process of fertilization, a male and female gamete unite to form a single cell, the zygote,
from which a new individual develops.”91
91
Patten, B.M. & Corliss, C. E., Patten's Human Embryology: Elements of Clinical Development,
McGraw-Hill, 1976, p. 9.
92
"You began as a single cell stocked with DNA inherited from your parents." 92
92
Urry, L., Campbell Biology. 12ª ed. Pearson, 2020, p. 7
93
“Fertilization marks the beginning of one of the most remarkable phenomena in all of biology—
the process of embryogenesis, in which the zygote develops into a new individual.”93
93
Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Raff, M., Lewis, J., Roberts, K., & Walter, P., Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition,
New York: Garland Science; 2002, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26843/#A3746.
94
Legal Source #1
“[A] fetus is a living organism while within the womb, whether it is viable outside the womb…
We do not understand this point to be contested”94
94
Gonzales v. Carhart, 550 U.S. 124 (2007), p. 147.
95
Legal Source #2
“Physicians, biologists, and other scientists agree that conception marks the beginning of the life
of a human being--of a being that is alive and is a member of the human species. There is
overwhelming agreement on this point in countless medical, biological, and scientific writings”95
95
S-158, 97th Congress, 1st Session, 1981, p. 7.
96
Legal Source #3
“The Task Force concludes the following… abortion terminates the life of a unique, whole,
living human being”96
96
Report of The South Dakota Task Force to Study Abortion, Submitted to the Governor and Legislature of South
Dakota, 2005, p. 13, https://www.dakotavoice.com/Docs/South%20Dakota%20Abortion%20
Task%20Force%20Report.pdf.
97
Legal Source #4
“Recognizing and finding that the life of the human person commences at conception, also
known as fertilization, and that the United States Supreme Court 1973 Roe and Doe decisions
striking down state laws criminalizing abortion, which protected preborn children, are based on
false science”97
97
House Resolution No. 214, 2015, https://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?151+ful+HR2
14+pdf.
98
Legal Source #5
"The Congress finds that present day scientific evidence indicates a significant likelihood that
actual human life exists from conception."98
98
The Language of the Bill, The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on Separation of
Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 2.
99
Legal Source #6
"From both the legal and medical standpoint, there is absolutely no question in my mind and I
feel in the minds of most individuals who have given serious thought to this question, the exact
moment of the beginning [of] personhood and of the human body is at the moment of
conception."99
99
Prepared Statement of Dr. McCarthy DeMere, J.D., M.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the
100
Legal Source #7
“HHS accomplishes its mission through programs and initiatives that cover a wide spectrum of
activities, serving and protecting Americans at every stage of life, from conception.”100
35.
100
Strategic Plan FY 2018 - 2022, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
https://www.hhs.gov/about/strategic-plan/introduction/index.html.
101
Legal Source #8
“Legislative declaration that life begins at fertilization. (a) The legislature hereby finds and
declares the following: (1) The life of each human being begins at fertilization; (2) unborn
children have interests in life, health and well-being that should be protected”101
101
KS Stat § 65-6732 (2014), http://www.kslegislature.org/li_2014/b2013_14/statute/
065_000_0000_chapter/065_067_0000_article/065_067_0032_section/065_067_0032_k.
102
Legal Source #9
“A BILL To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization.”102
102
Sanctity of Human Life Act, H.R.586 — 115th Congress (2017-2018), https://www.congress.gov/
115/bills/hr586/BILLS-115hr586ih.pdf.
103
Legal Source #10
“The general assembly of this state finds that: (1) The life of each human being begins at
conception”103
103
2005 Missouri Revised Statutes - § 1.205, https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?
section=1.205.
104
Legal Source #11
“(3) PERSON. The term, when referring to the victim of a criminal homicide or assault, means a
human being, including an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of
viability.”104
104
Ala. Code § 13A-6-1, http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/codeofalabama/1975/
coatoc.htm.
105
Legal Source #12
“[T]he term ‘unborn child’ means a child in utero, and the term ‘child in utero’ or ‘child, who is
in utero’ means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is
carried in the womb.’’105
105
Public Law 108-212, Apr. 2004, https://www.congress.gov/108/plaws/publ212/PLAW-108publ212.pdf.
106
Legal Source #13
“There is authority for the proposition that human life commences at the moment of
conception.”106
106
Steinberg v. Brown, 321 F. Supp. 741, 747, (ND Ohio 1970).
107
Legal Source #14
“The civil law and the law of property regard a child "en ventre sa mere," as a human being from
the moment of conception”107
107
Jones v. Com., 830 S.W.2d 877, 882 (SC Kentucky 1992).
108
Legal Source #15
“From the viewpoint of the civil law and the law of property, a child en ventre sa mere is not
only regarded as human being, but as such from the moment of conception which it is in fact.”108
108
Bonbrest v. Kotz, 65 F. Supp. 138, 140 (D.D.C. 1946).
109
Legal Source #16
“The most cogent reason, we believe, for holding that a viable unborn child is an entity within
the meaning of the general word "person" is because, biologically speaking, such a child is, in
fact, a presently existing person, a living human being.”109
109
Mitchell v. Couch, 285 S.W.2d 901, 905 (1955).
110
Legal Source #17
“We had some very distinguished witnesses at our previous hearings who were quite categorical
that life does begin at the time of conception”110
110
Senator John P. East, The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on Separation of
Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 80.
111
Legal Source #18
“If one wants to define human life in the narrowest genetic terms, one might say, yes, it is true
life begins [at fertilization]”111
111
Testimony of Dr. Daniel Callahan, Ph.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
112
Legal Source #19
“[The Human Life Bill] is a Congressional declaration of legal personhood for unborn children.
It finds that human life begins at conception or fertilization.”112
112
Prepared Statement of Representatives Romano L. Mazzoli and Charles F. Dougherty, The Human Life Bill:
Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on Separation of Powers of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary,
97th Cong., 1st Sess. (1981), p. 170.
113
Legal Source #20
“In passing the Human Life Bill, we are saying that the unborn child is a person, a human being,
and as such, it is entitled to the due process law of protection of the 14th amendment”113
113
Representative Charles F. Dougherty, The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
114
Legal Source #21
“Congress can examine the unanswered question of when life begins [and] reasonably determine
that at conception a life has come into being -- a specific, individual life in terms of
chromosomal structure and many consequential identifying characteristics.”114
114
Galebach, S.H., A Human Life Statute, The Human Life Review, Winter 1981, p. 16.
115
Legal Source #22
“A final step would be the enactment of an Amendment actually mandating the protection of
human life from conception”115
115
Prepared Statement of John Noonan, J.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
116
Legal Source #23
“Faced with the biological, scientific, and medical data that this subcommittee has before it, is it
conceivable that these men--the authors of the 14th amendment--would have said no, [preborn]
humans are not to be protected? I think not.”116
116
Testimony of Basile Uddo, J.D., The Human Life Bill: Hearings on S. 158 Before the Subcommittee on
117
Legal Source #24
“Global bureaucrats have absolutely no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that wish to
protect innocent life. Like many nations here today, we in America believe that every child, born
and unborn, is a sacred gift from God”117
117
Trump rebukes UN on abortion: ‘Americans will never tire of defending innocent life’, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHUT2AbJFYE.
118
Legal Source #25
“That the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being”118
118
S.D.C.L. Section 34-23A-10.1(1)(b), https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Codified_Laws/Display
Statute.aspx?Type=Statute&Statute=34-23A-10.1.
119
Legal Source #26
“"Human being," an individual living member of the species of Homo sapiens, including the
unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from fertilization to full
gestation”119
119
S.D.C.L. Section 34-23A-1, https://sdlegislature.gov/Statutes/Codified_Laws/DisplayStatute.aspx?
Type=Statute&Statute=34-23A-1.
120
Legal Source #27
‘In 1975, The German Constitutional Court affirmed that preborn humans are persons with
fundamental rights and held that respect for human dignity requires the criminalization of
elective abortions’120
120
BVerfGE 39, 1 - Schwangerschaftsabbruch I, https://www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bv039001.html.
121
Pro-Life Source #1
“Since life begins at fertilization, an individual grows and develops between the moment of
fertilization throughout adulthood.”121
121
Life's Beginning - When Does Life Begin?, Live Action, https://www.liveaction.org/learn/the-problem/lifes-
beginning.
122
Pro-Life Source #2
“A New, Distinct Human Organism Comes into Being at Fertilization - It is undisputed that a
new, distinct human organism comes into existence during the process of fertilization”122
122
Full Disclosure: Blurry or Broken Language and the Beginning of Human Life, Charlotte Lozier Institute, Nov. 1,
2013, https://lozierinstitute.org/full-disclosure-blurry-or-broken-language-and-the-beginning-of-human-life.
123
Pro-Life Source #3
“The scientific community continues to prove that human life begins at conception
(fertilization).”123
123
Faulkner, L., Science confirms that human life begins at fertilization, Live Action, Mar. 1, 2017,
https://www.liveaction.org/news/science-confirms-that-human-life-begins-at-fertilization.
124
Pro-Life Source #4
“Some of the world’s most prominent scientists and physicians testified to a U.S. Senate
committee that human life begins at conception”124
124
Alcorn, R., Scientists Attest to Life Beginning at Conception, EPM, Mar. 8, 2010, https://www.epm.
org/resources/2010/Mar/8/scientists-attest-life-beginning-conception.
125
Pro-Life Source #5
“When it comes to the question of when human life begins, the science is crystal clear: human
life begins at conception or fertilization.”125
125
Ertelt, S., Scientific Fact: Human Life Begins at Conception, or Fertilization, LifeNews.com, Nov. 18, 2013,
https://www.lifenews.com/2013/11/18/undisputed-scientific-fact-human-life-begins-at-conce
ption-or-fertilization.
126
Pro-Life Source #6
"Human embryos and fetuses are living members of the species Homo sapiens at the embryonic
and fetal stages of their lives. They are distinct organisms with human DNA who are growing
and directing their own development toward maturity. This is not in dispute."126
126
Stark, P., When does life begin? It's pretty simple, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, Apr. 12, 2017,
https://www.mccl.org/post/2017/04/12/when-does-life-begin-its-pretty-simple.
127
Pro-Life Source #7
“In doing so, they ignored the consistent testimony of embryologists that an individual human
life does, in fact, begin at conception.”127
127
Human Life Begins at Conception, Massachusetts Citizens for Life, https://www.masscitizensforlife.org/human-
life-begins-at-conception.
128
Pro-Life Source #8
"The more scientists and doctors investigate, the more evidence they find that human life begins
when sperm and egg meet and a new cell is formed, in other words, at the moment of
fertilization."128
128
Katrina Gallic, LIFE BEGINS AT FERTILIZATION. THANKS, SCIENCE!, March for Life, Nov. 16, 2018,
https://marchforlife.org/scientific-evidence-that-life-begins-at-fertilization.
129
Pro-Life Source #9
“Every new life begins at conception. This is an irrefutable fact of biology. It is true for animals
and true for humans.”129
129
Fact #1: Every abortion kills an innocent human being, AbortionFacts.com,
https://www.abortionfacts.com/facts/1#1.
130
Pro-Life Source #10
"We're left with one option. Life begins at conception. At fertilization. It's what science tells us
and logic requires us to acknowledge."130
130
Gray, S., When Does Life Begin?, YouTube, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ia5O57
nZbw.
131
Pro-Life Source #11
"If people just know this information, they would be better educated to see what abortion really
is. It's really killing a human being. My abortion position - 90% of it - came from work as a
scientist, and as a neonatologist... The truth is in the science."131
131
Malloy, C., Dr. Colleen Malloy: Why a 20 week ban on abortion?, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2RUQL1Wi2WM.
132
Pro-Life Source #12
"Adult, teenager, child, infant, fetus, embryo, blastocyst, zygote: these are all stages of
development in the life of a human organism. Shouldn’t we treat all human organisms, or what
we usually call human beings, equally regardless of what level of development they are currently
at?"132
132
Horn, T., When Does a Human Life Begin?, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wURL
0rVLbY at 3:18.
133
Pro-Life Source #13
"From the very beginning, at conception, what we have is a living, distinct, whole human being.
We know that it is alive; it fits the definition of an organism"133
133
Almon, M., Does the scientific community agree that life begins at conception?, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y55A0Rf2y3s at 0:22.
134
Pro-Life Source #14
"So while human sperm and eggs are merely parts of a human being. A zygote is a full human
being… When sperm and egg come together and meet in conception, that’s when you have a
new human being. That’s just basic science.”134
134
Shlemon, A., There's No Scientific Consensus on When Human Life Begins - Challenge Response, YouTube,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPP13k4D0Nk at 9:10.
135
Pro-Life Source #15
"A "human being" is a member of the species homo sapiens. While there is much debate over
when a human organism becomes a "person," there is not much debate over when a human
organism begins biologically”135
135
Abortion, Secular Pro-Life, https://www.secularprolife.org/abortion.
136
Pro-Life Source #16
"[I]ncreasing scientific testimony is to the effect that the fetus is in most significant biological
senses an individual human life”136
136
Breakthrough, The Human Life Review, Feb. 1981.
137
Pro-Life Source #17
“I came to the realization that if I shouldn’t be killing children in the second trimester, then I
shouldn’t be killing them earlier, either."137
137
Levatino, A., I Regret Performing Abortions, Priests for Life, https://www.priestsforlife.org/
testimonies/3293-I-Regret-Performing-Abortions.
138
Pro-Life Source #18
“[T]heir children are made fun of, and they're ripped apart into pieces, arms and legs and pieces
of rib cage that abortion clinic workers go through every day. They are not blobs of cells, they
are human beings, and their mothers are suffering."138
138
Adair, C., We Lied to Them, Priests for Life, https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/3283-We-Lied-to-Them.
139
Pro-Life Source #19
“After [my] three abortions and suffering from all these symptoms, and then helping parents kill
their children, lying to them and saying it's a sack of tissue, and two days later, throwing their
babies away in the garbage, can you imagine my soul and my heart?"139
139
Sanivole, P., Hurting Myself and Others, Priests for Life, https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/
3281-Hurting-Myself-and-Others.
140
Pro-Life Source #20
“[Fetuses] became human beings to me, in the truest sense of the word--they became babies, they
became children, really, in a deeper sense than ever before. So, what they did to me was they
made me feel uncomfortable doing the abortions. I just plain felt uncomfortable doing them."140
140
Randall, J., Testimony of former abortion provider, Priests for Life, https://www.priestsforlife.org/
testimonies/1131-testimony-of-former-abortion-provider.
141
Pro-Life Source #21
“[S]howing her [the fetus], I remember very clearly seeing an arm and seeing the deltoid muscle,
and it just really struck me that day how beautiful that was. The thought just flashed through my
mind: What are you doing? Here is this beautiful piece of human flesh here, what are you
doing?"141
141
McMillian, B., Testimony of Beverly McMillian, M.D. Former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life,
https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1129-testimony-of-beverly-mcmillian-md-former-abortion-provider-.
142
Pro-Life Source #22
“I began to see what I was doing in a whole new light. I saw these babies for what they were-
human beings. It was very hard for my heart and head to accept because I had been leaving both
my heart and head at home for so long to work [at an abortion clinic]."142
142
Madsen, D., Dina Madsen: Testimony of an Ex-Abortion Provider, Priests for Life,
https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1128-dina-madsen-testimony-of-an-ex-abortion-provider-.
143
Pro-Life Source #23
“The deception in the language of abortion is achieved through the use of euphemisms…
"Products of conception" rather than baby and placenta. "Tissues" rather than flesh and bones…
Even "fetus" and "embryo" are Greek and Latin words for Baby."143
143
Jarrett, P., Testimony of Dr. Paul Jarrett, Former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life,
https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1125-testimony-of-dr-paul-jarrett-former-abortion-provider
144
Pro-Life Source #24
“I, personally, then had to search through the jumbled-up mass of tissue to find the fetal gonads,
to be sure to include them on the slide so that we could study them. The jumbled-up mass of
tissue was easily identifiable as the torn and shredded body of a tiny human being."144
144
Hill, M., Testimony of Dr. McArthur Hill, former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life, https://www.
priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1124-testimony-of-dr-mcarthur-hill-former-abortion-provider.
145
Pro-Life Source #25
“I have a great love for children and babies, and I figured the best way to be with them is to work
in an OB/GYN office. It was really exciting seeing the growth of the baby from the time of
conception through the delivery.”145
145
Henry, D., Testimony of Deborah Henry, former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life, https://
www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1123-testimony-of-deborah-henry-former-abortion-provider.
146
Pro-Life Source #26
“And then they say: Is it a baby? No, it's a product of conception; it's a blood clot; it's a piece of
tissue. They don't even really tell them it's a fetus, because, you see, that almost humanizes it too
much. It's never a baby. They can't admit it themselves when they go in the back and have little
6-week fetuses, babies that they put down disposals”146
146
Everett, C., Testimony of Carol Everett, former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life,
https://www.priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1122-testimony-of-carol-everett-former-abortion-provider.
147
Pro-Life Source #27
“When I became a Christian I realized that life occurs at conception. And once that startling
discovery had been made, it was very simple to stop doing abortions.”147
147
Brewer, D., Testimony of David Brewer, MD, former Abortion Provider, Priests for Life, https://www.
priestsforlife.org/testimonies/1119-testimony-of-david-brewer-md-former-abortion-provider.
148
Pro-Choice Source #1
"Abortion undoubtedly ends life. I am not here to argue that today. Of course a fetus is a human
being; of course a fetus is living and growing inside a womb."148
148
Chadwick, C., “Should Abortion Be Illegal?” Debate, YouTube, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
H1weKzhBkk at 3:02.
149
"When we try to act like a pregnancy doesn't involve human life, we wind up drawing stupid
semantic lines in the sand"149
149
Elizabeth-Williams, M., So what if abortion ends life?, Salon, 2013,
https://www.salon.com/2013/01/23/so_what_if_abortion_ends_life.
150
"Clinging to a rhetoric about abortion in which there is no life and no death, we entangle our
beliefs in a series of self-delusions, fibs and evasions.”150
150
Wolf, N., Our Bodies, Our Souls, The New Republic, 1995, p. 26.
151
"Hence I have always frankly admitted that abortion is murder, the extermination of the
powerless by the powerful. Liberals for the most part have shrunk from facing the ethical
consequences of their embrace of abortion, which results in the annihilation of concrete
individuals and not just clumps of insensate tissue.”151
151
Paglia, C., Fresh blood for the vampire, Salon, 2008, https://www.salon.com/2008/09/10/palin_10.
152
"Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that."152
152
Boyd, C., Abortion doctor: 'Am I killing? Yes, I am', YouTube, 2009, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=bfWB7tcAdhw at 0:23.
153
"We have reached a point in this particular technology [D&E abortion] where there is no
possibility of denying an act of destruction. It is before one’s eyes. The sensations of
dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current.”153
153
Hern, W. & Corrigan, B., What about us? Staff reactions to D & E, Advances in Planned Parenthood, 1980, p. 7.
154
"[The idea of] dismembering a baby and pulling it out in pieces … is obviously horrific. But at
the same time, it is easy to get caught up in that emotion."154
154
Vitagliano, E., Murder. So what?, AFA Journal, 2004, https://afajournal.org/past-issues/2004/november-
december/murder-so-what.
155
"I believe that an abortion is a murder of a fetus”155
155
Barcella, L., The A-word, Salon, 2004, https://www.salon.com/2004/09/20/t_shirts.
156
"[A]bortion does involve the taking of a human life--because all life that is in and of a human
being is human life"156
156
Maguire, M.R. & Maguire, D.C., Abortion: A Guide to Making Ethical Decisions, Catholics for a Free Choice,
1983.
157
"[An abortion] kills the life of a baby after it has begun."157
157
Planned Parenthood pamphlet from 1952 admits: Abortion ‘kills the life of a baby’, LiveAction, 2017,
https://www.liveaction.org/news/planned-parenthood-in-1952-abortion-kills-the-life-of-a-baby.
158
“[T]here is no doubt that from the first moments of its existence an embryo conceived from
human sperm and eggs is a human being.”158
158
Singer, P., Practical Ethics, 2nd ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 85-86.
159
"Abortion, which means deliberately killing a developing human embryo”159
159
Dworkin, R., Life's Dominion: An Argument about Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom, Vintage
Books, 1994.
160
"Aside from the fact that abortion is the taking of a life"160
160
Calderone, M.S., Illegal Abortion as a Public Health Problem, American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 50, No.
7, 1960, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1373382/pdf/amjphnation00308-
0022.pdf.
161
"[A]bortion is killing. Nobody can argue with that. When the fetus is inside the uterus it is alive
and when the pregnancy terminated it is dead – that by any definition is killing."161
161
Claire, M., The Abortion Dilemma: Personal Views on a Public Issue, New York: Insight Books, 1995, p. 59.
162
"Given that we actually see the fetus the same way, and given that we might actually both agree
that there’s violence in here, ask me why I come to work every day. Let’s just give them all the
violence, it’s a person, it’s killing, let’s just give them all that.”162
162
Undercover Video, Center for Medical Progress, Facebook, https://m.facebook.com/prolifeaction/
videos/10158803278780008 at 1:56
163
"I would feel this way right through, even as first-trimester fatigue left me drained… [w]e had
our outward lives, but now there was something inward happening, a baby growing, a tiny
girl”163
163
Obama, M., Becoming, Crown, 2018, p. 190.
164
"We can accept that the embryo is a living thing in the fact that it has a beating heart, that it has
its own genetic system within it. It's clearly human in the sense that it's not a gerbil, and we can
recognize that it is human life."164
164
Furedi, A., Abortion: A Civilised Debate, YouTube, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJK8
8QObrI at 5:46.
165
"An abortion requires an operation. It kills the life of a baby after it has begun.”165
165
Ekeocha, O., Planned Parenthood Pamphlet, Twitter, 2017, https://twitter.com/obianuju/status/
855234037518094341.
166
"Perhaps the most straightforward relation, between you and me on the one hand and every
human fetus on the other is this: All are living members of the same species, homo sapiens. A
human fetus, after all, is simply a human being at a very early stage”166
166
Boonin, D., Practical Ethics, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, 2008), p. 85-86.
167
“The development of a potential human life requires conception as a first step.”167
167
Jacobson, J., Life Begins At Conception. That’s Not the Point, Rewire.News, Nov. 4, 2012,
https://rewire.news/article/2012/11/04/life-begins-at-conception-thats-not-point-0.
168
"The technology has clearly helped to define how people think about a fetus as a full, breathing
human being," admits former NARAL president Kate Michelman. "The other side has been able
to use the technology to its own end.""168
168
Kliff, S., Why Young Voters Are Lukewarm on Abortion Rights, Newsweek, Apr. 15, 2010,
https://www.newsweek.com/why-young-voters-are-lukewarm-abortion-rights-70311.
169
"I think that it is a baby and I tell our... I use it with the patients"169
169
BBC Interview of Dr. LeRoy Carhart, at 0:45, YouTube, Aug. 14, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Sx2nhx98mfs.
170
"Sure, it sometimes hurts to end life instead of bringing it into the world."170
170
Rosen, N., Between Guilt and Gratification: Abortion Doctors Reveal Their Feelings, New York Times
Magazine, 1977, p. 73-74.
171
“The solution is lethal. It kills the baby in the womb.”171
171
Sweeney, W.J. & Lang Stern, B., Woman’s Doctor: A Year in the Life of an Obstetrician-Gynecologist, New
York: Morrow & Company, 1973, p. 207.
172
“The pro-choice movement has not owned or owned up to the reality of the fetus, or the reality
of fetal parts.”172
172
Harris, L., Second Trimester Abortion Provision: Breaking the Silence and Changing the Discourse,
Reproductive Health Matters, Sep. 2, 2008, p. 77.
173
“For a long time, these images made me anxious. They are proof that what grows within a
pregnant woman’s body is a human being, living and unfolding according to a timetable that
has existed as long as we have . Obviously, it would take a profound act of violence to
remove him from his quiet world and destroy him.” 173
173
Flanagan, C., The Dishonesty of the Abortion Debate, The Atlantic, Dec. 2019,
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/the-things-we-cant-face/600769.
174
“If it was a pencil, it’s not a problem. It’s because we know what is a child, it is a problem”174
174
Dr. Jeanne St. Amour, quoted by Ann Collins in The Big Evasion: Abortion, the Issue That Won’t Go Away,
Toronto, Ontario: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1985, p. 114.
175
“Abortion kills a human being”175
175
Practicing Abortionist: "Abortion kills a human being.", YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=9WxzAvhpd_s.
176
“Of course we know [abortion is] killing, but the state permits killing in certain circumstances”176
176
Abortion Doctor Dr. Neville Sender, M.D., Milwaukee Journal Article, cited in Miller, M.M., Abandoned: The
Untold Story of the Abortion Wars, Charlotte, North Carolina: St. Benedict Press, 2012, p. 183.
177
“There’s a Native American nurse at an abortion clinic in San Francisco who put it this way. She
said, “If you have twins and it’s a bad year, you have to put one in the badger hole.”177
177
Samara Azam-Yu, Director of Access Women’s Health Justice in Oakland, California, cited in Oberman, M.,
Her Body, Our Laws: On the Front Lines of the Abortion War from El Salvador to Oklahoma, Boston,
Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2018, p. 108.
178
“I have the utmost respect for life; I appreciate that life starts early in the womb, but also believe
that I'm ending it for good reasons.”178
178
As told to Alkon, C., Confessions of an Abortion Doctor, Boston Magazine, Dec. 2004,
https://www.bostonmagazine.com/2006/05/15/confessions-of-an-abortion-doctor.
179
“Abortion is... a form of killing. It is a form of killing that we need to be able to defend."179
179
Lewis, S., A radical defence of abortion | Sophie Lewis, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jMGptJXz618&list=UL2N2o79m9oZg&index=1399.
180
“No one, neither the patient receiving an abortion, nor the person doing the abortion, is ever, at
anytime, unaware that they are ending a life."180
180
Harrison, W., WHY I PROVIDE ABORTIONS, Daily Kos, May 31, 2007, http://www.dailykos.com/
story/2007/05/31/341498/-WHY-I-PROVIDE-ABORTIONS.
181
““I think it's apt [to describe abortion as the] destruction of life. Look!”… I spent a lot of years
learning to deliver babies. Sure, it sometimes hurts to end life instead of bringing it into the
world.”181
181
Dr. William Rashbaum, quoted by Norma Rosen, Between Guilt and Gratification: Abortion Doctors Reveal
Their Feelings, New York Times Magazine, Apr. 17, 1977, https://www.nytimes.com/
1977/04/17/archives/between-guilt-and-gratification-abortion-doctors-reveal-their.html.
182
“What we do here is end a life. And if you’re not okay with that, you can’t work here.”182
182
Former abortion clinic worker Jewels Green quoting the director of the abortion clinic, quoted in Madrid, P.
Surprised by Life, Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 2017, p. 52.
183
“What this acknowledgment of the fetus leads us to is a profound taking of responsibility for our
choices, for the fact that we have, with full consciousness, terminated life.”183
183
McDonnell, K., Not An Easy Choice: A Feminist Re-examines Abortion, Second Story Press, 2003, p. 54.
184
“And I just decided it’s not worth it to do, because I have had such terribly strong feelings that
it’s turned me off. I feel that I am destroying life. I feel that I’m actually killing them.”184
184
Abortion doctor Michael Christie, M.D., quoted in Denes, M., In Necessity and Sorrow, New York: Basic Books,
Inc., 1976, p. 144.
185
“[Abortion] goes against all things which are natural. It’s a termination of a life, however you
look at it.”185
185
Abortion doctor Robert Harris, M.D., quoted in Denes, M., In Necessity and Sorrow, New York: Basic Books,
Inc., 1976, p. 147.
186
“We of today know that man is born of sexual union; that he starts life as an embryo within the
body of the female; and that the embryo is formed from the fusion of two single cells, the ovum
and the sperm.”186
186
Guttmacher, A., Life in the Making: the Story of Human Procreation, New York: Viking Press, 1933, p. 3.
187
Additional Source #1
“A study found 80 percent of Americans say biologists should decide the question of when life
begins, and, when more than 5,500 biologists were asked that question, 96 percent affirmed life
begins at fertilization”187
187
Berry, S., Study: 96% of 5,577 Biologists Affirm Human Life Begins at Fertilization, Breitbart, 2019,
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/07/11/study-96-of-5577-biologists-affirm-human-life-begins-at-
fertilization.
188
“[T]he life of a new human being commences at a scientifically well-defined event; the fusion of
the plasma membranes of sperm and egg… it is a matter of objective, scientific observation”188
188
Condic, M.L., When Does Human Life Begin? The Scientific Evidence and Terminology Revisited, 8 U. St.
Thomas J.L. & Pub. Pol’y, 2013, p. 44-81, http://www.embryodefense.org/MaureenCondic
SET.pdf.
189
“The results of Jacobs’ global survey of academic biologists was astonishing in its consensus:
‘Overall, 95% of all biologists affirmed the biological view that a human’s life begins at
fertilization (5212 out of 5502)’”189
189
Hammer, J., HAMMER: A World-Renowned University Suppressed Important Abortion Research. Here’s The
Full Story, Daily Wire, 2019, https://www.dailywire.com/news/hammer-world-renowned-university-suppressed-
josh-hammer.
190
“[T]he immediate product of sexual human reproduction is a new living genetically unique
single-cell human organism, human being, human embryo, human zygote, human individual”190
190
Irving, D.N., What Human Embryo?: Funniest Mental Gymnastics from Medicine and Research, Catholic
Culture, https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6373.
191
“I found that 5,337 biologists (96%) affirmed that a human’s life begins at fertilization”191
191
Jacobs, S., I Asked Thousands of Biologists When Life Begins. The Answer Wasn’t Popular, Quillette, 2019,
https://quillette.com/2019/10/16/i-asked-thousands-of-biologists-when-life-begins-the-answer-w
asnt-popular.
192
“[A] new human embryo, the starting point for a human life, comes into existence with the
formation of the one-celled zygote”192
192
Life Begins at Fertilization, Princeton University, https://www.princeton.edu/~prolife/articles/
embryoquotes2.html.
193
“A new human organism begins to exist when the process of fertilization is successfully
completed”193
193
Life Begins at Fertilization – Peer Reviewed Scientific Sources, The Fetal Position, 2019,
https://thefetalposition.com/conception.
194
“[T]he biological and medical truths which prove the prenatal entity is in fact... a distinct human
being [that is] biologically alive from conception”194
194
Smith, D., Pro-Choice Concedes: Prominent Abortion Proponents Concede The Barbarity Of Abortion, Human
Defense Initiative, 2018, https://humandefense.com/prochoice-concedes.
195
“Carnegie Stage 1 represents FERTILIZATION and [describes] the unicellular embryo that
contains genetic material and is a single-cell HUMAN BEING that develops into all of the
subsequent stages of a human being.”195
195
The Carnegie Stages of Human Embryonic Development, Contend Projects, https://contendprojects.
org/the-science/carnegie-stages.
196
“The life of a human being begins at conception—not at implantation, “viability,” or birth. This
is a scientific fact.”196
196
Lee, P., Tollefsen, C.O., & George, R.P., Marco Rubio Is Right: The Life of a New Human Being Begins at
Conception, Public Discourse, Aug. 18, 2015, https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/
08/15520.
197
“[I]mproved medical techniques, and other advances anchor the movement’s arguments in
scientific fact. ‘The pro-life message has been, for the last 40-something years, that the fetus …
is a life, and it is a human life’”197
197
Green, E., Science Is Giving the Pro-Life Movement a Boost, The Atlantic, Jan. 18, 2018,
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/pro-life-pro-science/549308.
198
“[S]cience is clear. That when there is conception that that is a human life in the early stages of
its total development”198
198
Scott, E., Marco Rubio defends abortion stance: Human life begins at conception, CNN, Aug. 7, 2015,
https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/politics/marco-rubio-abortion-republican-debate-gop/index.html.
199
“The majority of our group could find no point in time between the union of sperm and egg, or at
least the blastocyst stage, and the birth of the infant at which point we could say that this was not
a human life.”199
199
The Conclusion from The First International Conference on Abortion (Oct. 1967), cited by Xalxo, P.,
Complementarity of Human Life and Other Life Forms in Nature, 2007, p. 103.
200
“Life begins at conception. Because of that, every life must be valued.”200
200
Daines forms first ‘pro-life caucus’ in U.S. Senate, KRTV, Jan. 19, 2019, https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-
politics/2019/01/19/daines-forms-first-pro-life-caucus-in-u-s-senate.
201
“[Pre-Roe] laws reflected an ethical consensus, not based solely on religious tradition, but also
on scientific evidence that human life begins at conception”201
201
Meehan, M., Abortion and the “Consistency Thing”, The Human Life Review, Winter 1981, p. 60.
202
“When one of the father’s sperm cells, like the ones gathered here around the egg, succeeds in
penetrating the egg and becomes united with it, a new life can begin.”202
202
Flanagan, G.L., Beginning Life, New York: DK Publishing, 1996, p. 13.
203
“Abortion does end a human life, so it should not be done without grave consideration for what
is at stake, as we do with capital punishment and war.”203
203
Shermer, M., Abortion Is a Problem to Be Solved, Not a Moral Issue, Scientific American, Sep. 1, 2018,
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/abortion-is-a-problem-to-be-solved-not-a-moral-issue .
204
“[An] embryo [is t]he early developing fertilized egg that is growing into another individual of
the species. In man the term “embryo” is usually restricted to the period of development from
fertilization until the end of the eighth week of pregnancy”204
204
Walters, W. & Singer, P. [Eds.], Test-Tube Babies, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 160.
205
“FERTILIZATION: What new process is begun at conception? It is life itself. It is a process

involving manifold processes: the manifold acts and reactions of a new human life.”205
205
Connolly, W. M., One Life: How the U.S. Supreme Court Deliberately Distorted the History, Science and Law of
Abortion, Xlibris, 2002, p. 227.
206
“A human fetus is not a nonhuman animal; it is a stage of human being."206
206
Sumner, W. Abortion and Moral Theory, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981, p. 10.
207
“A baby begins life as a single cell, smaller than the period at the end of this sentence, and would
be only barely visible to the naked eye. This cell is created by the union of two parent cells: the
female egg cell or ovum, and the male sperm cell."207
207
Sumner, W. Abortion and Moral Theory, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981, p. 10.
208
209

2021 Report: Scientific, Legal, Pro-Life, & Pro-Choice Sources On When A Human's Life Begins

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2021 Report: Scientific, Legal, Pro-Life, & Pro-Choice Sources On When A Human's Life Begins

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2021 Report

Scientific, Legal, Pro-Life, & Pro-Choice

II. Legal Sources Page 096

III. Pro-Life Sources Page 123

IV. Pro-Choice Sources Page 150

V. Additional Sources Page 189

“Fertilization is the union of gametes to initiate development of a new individual”6

“Fertilization-the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism-is the culmination of a multitude

“Pronuclear/zygotic stage is the very first stage of life”16

Scientific Source #36

“When sperm meets egg: the spark of new life”38

“After fertilization, to initiate development, gametes are reprogramed to become totipotent”39

"The life cycle of mammals begins when a sperm enters an egg."40

“Human life begins with sperm and oocyte fusion”47

“Most readers of this review originated from a sperm-egg fusion event”55

Scientific Source #61

"You and I all started at the single-celled embryo"70

“[Abortion is the] unwarrantable destruction of human life”87

"Am I killing? Yes, I am. I know that."152

"I believe that an abortion is a murder of a fetus”155

"[An abortion] kills the life of a baby after it has begun."157

"Abortion, which means deliberately killing a developing human embryo”159

"Aside from the fact that abortion is the taking of a life"160

“The development of a potential human life requires conception as a first step.”167

“The solution is lethal. It kills the baby in the womb.”171

“Abortion kills a human being”175

“Life begins at conception. Because of that, every life must be valued.”200

“FERTILIZATION: What new process is begun at conception? It is life itself. It is a process

“A human fetus is not a nonhuman animal; it is a stage of human being."206

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