When does human life begin? At conception? When there are brain waves? When there is blood?

*At conception, the entire genetic blueprint of a new individual is formed. Chromosomes contain tightly packed, tightly coiled molecules called DNA.
*The heart begins beating 3 weeks and one day following fertilization.
*Individualized brainwaves recorded via electroencephalogram have been reported as early as 6 weeks, 2 days.
*By 9 weeks thumb sucking begins and the fetus may swallow amniotic fluid. The fetus can also grasp an object, move the head forward and back, open and close the jaw, move the tongue, sigh, and stretch.
*By 9 weeks, the nerve receptors in the face, palms of the hands, and soles of the feet can sense and respond to light touch. Following a light touch on the sole of the foot, the fetus will bend the hip and knee and may curl the toes.
*An infant鈥檚 delicate, little fingernails actually begin growing just 10 weeks after fertilization - as do fingerprints. These patterns can be used for identification throughout life.
http://www.ehd.org/

A body kept alive for organ donations does not respond to touch because the brain is dead.

The 9-week old unborn responds to touch because they can feel and the functioning brain allows them to respond with movement. How can 9-week old unborn children suck their thumbs without brain waves?

Yes, life begins at conception.

People who have abortions do so because they "don't want a baby." The result they are trying to avoid or prevent is a person. Nine months from conception, a human being is born, abortion kills that person.

I suppose it could be called "human life" at the moment of conception. It has homo sapien DNA after all. But when we talk about humanity, we are not referring to the biological factors. We generally mean something deeper -- a conscious mind, a mind with the ability to experience pain and feel pleasure, a mind that plans for its future. If this is truly what is important, a list of biological developments is unhelpful.

When you are a conscious, independent and self-aware being.

"*Individualized brainwaves recorded via electroencephalogram have been reported as early as 6 weeks, 2 days" = FALSE

This is based on a single paper which was published in 1964, which claimed to have measured EEG activity in the fetus at day 40 (H. Hamlin, "Life or Death by EEG," JAMA, Oct. 12, 1964). What is not mentioned is that this paper was discredited very soon after by some medical students who, using the same equipment and setup, measured brainwaves in a bowl of Jello.

The first measurable signs of EEG movement occur in the 12th week. Somewhere in week 16-25 the nervous system develops enough to control some body functions.

http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN35...

Since your assertion there is provably false, care to reconsider?

So? Just about every creature above the level of a worm has a detectable brain-wave. That doesn't make it human.

Nearly a quarter of pregancies spontaneously abort (ie miscarry) before the end of the sixth week, often before the woman even realises she is pregnant. This makes your God the biggest abortionist of all time. According to you, he's murdering thinking creatures by doing this.

This isn't really a question...this is just a platform for you to rant about the fact that human life is precious, abortion is bad...etcetera

Human life doesn't begin until the baby is born and can breathe human air

it begins the very moment the sperm merges with the egg cell...no, i'm serious. it's not just a blood clot because right at that very moment, the whole forming of everything starts.

Personally I believe human life starts at about 26 weeks, when he/she can feel pain and has consciousness. Until then the brain is not developed enough to have those things.

When it leaves the birth canal. My sperm and your eggs have DNA too, I don't see anyone argueing for the rights of my sperm.

at conception

begins at the first tax bill

Whenever it is that we have our first memory...which would probably be somewhere in the latter half of fetal development. At least I believe we have some memories, since babies seem to act like they remember what's happened in the womb, and some suffer from twinless twin syndrome even when their twin was absorbed in utero and they never met or knew that they had that twin. While I still don't believe in arbortion, for reasons other than when life starts, I think an embryo is alive in the same way a tree is alive--it's living but it doesn't know it's alive and therefore it might as well not be.