Jivin J’s Life Links 8-11-10
by JivinJ, host of the blog, JivinJehoshaphat
- Cathy Cleaver Ruse has a piece in the Washington Times on the fight to allow abortions at military hospitals:
No, the real goal of this abortion maneuver is to use the military to accomplish radical social change – to mainstream abortion, to press the government into providing it on a widespread scale so that it becomes respectable and ordinary. Forcing the military into the abortion business would be a major face-lift for an ugly industry.
- The CO Section of the American Congress (wasn’t it College?) of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has issued a statement on the most recent state ballot to define “person” in CO’s constitution. The statement attempts to act like the terminology “the beginning of biologic development of a human being” is vague and unscientific. They also claim proposal language could refer to human cell lines as if a cell line is a human being.They say the ballot language would have an effect on a number of issues that it clearly wouldn’t, like treatment of molar pregnancies and miscarriages. They provide no explanation for why the treatment of molar pregnancies (not human beings) and miscarried children (dead human beings) would be “banned or highly regulated.” The statement also includes some dehumanizing language such as describing an unborn child attached to her mother’s fallopian tube as “growing pregnancy tissue.”
Aug.11, 2010 1:00 pm |
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Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Okay, so ACOG is quoting giving aid and comfort to Colorado’s legislative council which is writing the “blue book” text on Amendment 62 to go out to 3.5 million voters, claiming that, “The phrase “the beginning of biologic development” is vague terminology…” Here’s the campaign’s official public comments into this process:
Amendment 62 Co-Sponsors
Personhood Colorado and Colorado Right To Life
Answer the General Questions Submitted
by Colorado’s Legislative Council
Preliminary Comment on Beginning of Biological Development: The Legislative Council has persisted in claiming against all scientific and medical research and common usage of English grammar that the phrase “the beginning of biological development,” is “a term which is not defined… and is not an accepted medical or scientific term.” So prior to presenting our answers to the council’s thirteen questions, we’re summarizing references that address this matter first, for both sexual (fertilization) and asexual (twinning, cloning, etc.) human reproduction.
THE BEGINNING OF BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
1. SEXUAL HUMAN REPRODUCTION:
The following scientific references are provided by medical ethicist Dr. Prof. Dianne N. Irving of Georgetown University who herself writes herein, “Scientifically, the term ’embryo’ as it refers to the sexually reproduced single-cell human embryo should apply from the biological beginning of that human organism, i.e., at the beginning of the process of fertilization or first contact of the sperm with the oocyte (as documented by Carnegie Stage 1):”
Carnegie Stage 1 Definition: Embryonic life commences with fertilization, and hence the beginning of that process may be taken as the point de depart of stage 1. Despite the small size (ca. 0.1 mm) and weight (ca. 0.004 mg) of the organism at fertilization, the embryo is “schon ein individual-spezifischer Mensch“ (Blechschmidt, 1972). … Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with an oocyte or its investments and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes at metaphase of the first mitotic division of the zygote (Brackett et al., 1972). Fertilization sensu stricto involves the union of developmentally competent gametes realized in an appropriate environment to result in the formation of a viable embryo (Tesarik, 1986) … . Fertilization requires probably slightly longer than 24 hours in primates (Brackett et al., 1972). In the case of human oocytes fertilized in vitro, pronuclei were formed within 11 hours of insemination (Edwards, 1972). … Fertilization, which takes place normally in the ampulla of the uterine tube, includes (a) contact of spermatozoa with the zona pellucida of an oocyte, penetration of one or more spermatozoa through the zona pellucida and the ooplasm, swelling of the spermatozoal head and extrusion of the second polar body, (b) the formation of the male and female pronuclei, and (c) the beginning of the first mitotic division, or cleavage, of the zygote. … The three phases (a, b, and c) referred to above will be included here under stage 1, the characteristic feature of which is unicellularity. … [Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Development, Stage 1, at: http://nmhm.washingtondc.museum/collections/hdac/stage1.pdf%5D (emphases added)
Human development is a continuous process that begins when an oocyte (ovum) from a female is fertilized by a sperm (or spermatozoon) from a male. (p. 2); ibid.: … but the embryo begins to develop as soon as the oocyte is fertilized. (p. 2); ibid.: [Single-cell human embryo]: this cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm … is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo). (p. 2); ibid.: Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell [embryo] . This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. (p. 18) … The usual site of fertilization is the ampulla of the uterine tube [fallopian tube], its longest and widest part. If the oocyte is not fertilized here, it slowly passes along the tube to the uterus, where it degenerates and is reabsorbed. Although fertilization may occur in other parts of the tube, it does not occur in the uterus. … The embryo’s chromosomes sex is determined at fertilization by the kind of sperm (X or Y) that fertilizes the ovum; hence it is the father rather than the mother whose gamete determines the sex of the embryo. [Keith Moore and T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (6th ed. only) (Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company, 1998), p. 37] (emphases added)
Human pregnancy begins with the fusion of an egg and a sperm. (p. 3); … finally, the fertilized egg, now properly called an embryo, must make its way into the uterus (p. 3); … The sex of the future embryo is determined by the chromosomal complement of the spermatozoon … Through the mingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes, the [embryo] is a genetically unique product of chromosomal reassortment … [Bruce M. Carlson, Human Embryology and Developmental Biology (St. Louis, MO: Mosby, 1994), p. 31; ibid, Carlson 1999, pp., 2, 23, 27, 32] (emphasis added)
In this text, we begin our description of the developing human with the formation and differentiation of the male and female sex cells or gametes, which will unite at fertilization to initiate the embryonic development of a new individual. … Fertilization takes place in the oviduct [not the uterus]… resulting in the formation of an [embryo] containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point. (p. 1); … [William J. Larsen, Human Embryology (New York: Churchill Livingstone, 1997), p. 17] (emphases added)
Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed. (p. 5); ibid.: Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments … (p. 19); ibid.: “The ill-defined and inaccurate term pre-embryo, which includes the embryonic disc, is said either to end with the appearance of the primitive streak or … to include neurulation. The term is not used in this book. [Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Muller, Human Embryology & Teratology (New York: Wiley-Liss, 1994), p. 55] (emphases added)
2. ASEXUAL HUMAN REPRODUCTION
Definition of asexual human reproduction: For example: “…genetically identical twins are clones who happened to have received exactly the same set of genetic instructions from two donor individuals, a mother and a father. A form of animal cloning can also occur as a result of artificial manipulation to bring about a type of asexual reproduction. The genetic manipulation in this case uses nuclear transfer technology: a nucleus is removed from a donor cell then transplanted into an oocyte whose own nucleus has previously been removed. The resulting ‘renucleated’ oocyte can give rise to an individual who will carry the nuclear genome of only one donor individual, unlike genetically identical twins. … Nuclear transfer technology was first employed in embryo cloning, in which the donor cell is derived from an early embryo, and has been long established in the case of amphibia. … Wilmut et al (1997) reported successful cloning of an adult sheep. For the first time, an adult nucleus had been reprogrammed to become totipotent once more, just like the genetic material in the fertilized oocyte from which the donor cell had ultimately developed. … Successful cloning of adult animals has forced us to accept that genome modifications once considered irreversible can be reversed and that the genomes of adult cells can be reprogrammed by factors in the oocyte to make them totipotent once again.” [Tom Strachan and Andrew P. Read, Human Molecular Genetics 2 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1999), pp. 508-509) (emphases added)
COUNCIL QUESTIONS
1. What do you consider to be the most important points that voters should know about the amendment?
The protection of innocent human beings is the paramount purpose of government.
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Just fyi! -Bob Enyart, KGOV.com
Jill, help us out on this one. I clicked on the link and the ACOG says that ‘most’ fertilized eggs don’t survive. Is this true? I don’t trust what they say or quote since the Kagan incident.
Regardless, even though some pregnancies miscarry by natural causes, elective abortion is murder.
ninek, I’m sorry but I don’t have an educated answer for you, but I don’t trust ACOG either. I will say I know a significant percentage of embryos are lost during the IVF process, but that’s all I can add, sorry.
Thanks anyway Jill. Here is the paragraph, copied from their statement:
The growth of an egg and sperm into a newborn baby is an extremely complex process; the majority of fertilized eggs (egg and sperm that have joined together) do not develop into a newborn baby. There is clear evidence published in peer reviewed journals that the majority of fertilized eggs will not implant in the human uterus and will not result in a live birth. In normal, fertile couples, as many as 70% of fertilized eggs do not implant into the uterine wall, and 15% of documented pregnancies (via positive pregnancy test and/or ultrasound showing a pregnancy) result in a spontaneous miscarriage.
70% seems like a very inflated number. What does “as many as 70%” mean? Is it 20% for some women, 100% for others? What kind of statistic is that? And which “peer reviewed journals”? I think there is something vague, and its ACOG’s statement!
In one of his books, Bernard Nathanson wrote that since MOST pregnancies will result in a healthy, full-term baby, then abortion must be considered interference in the natural biologic process. I lent my copy of the book out, wish I had it to quote the page number. But I believe Nathanson before I’d believe anything ACOG puts out. Nathanson had a great phrase for it, The Vector of Life. As soon as the egg is fertilized, the growth process begins. At first it is a growth by cell number, soon followed by growth in size. Sure it is a complicated thing for the child to develop, but that in no way justifies murdering the child somewhere along its Vector of Life.
Ninek – there’s no such thing as a “fertilized egg” because once the cortical reaction occurs, the very thing that makes it an oocyte has radically changed. Calling the resulting zygote a fertilized egg is a blatant falsehood and is the foundation for further dehumanization.
“Embryo” by Robert George and Christopher Tollefsen (who frequents Gerard Nadal’s site Coming Home, and at times stops by here as CT) provides excellent discussion on this topic along with solid references.
Here’s a link that further explains things:
http://www.thrufire.com/blog/2009/03/fertilized-eggs-vs-zygotic-human-embryos/
I also highly recommend following the link from there to the Endowment for Human Development.
Chris, thanks for that. Regarding “egg”
“Egg” Term is Unscientific for Personhood
According to the Carnegie Institute, the term “egg” has “no scientific usefulness” regarding early human development. Washington D.C.’s National Museum of Health and Medicine, established in 1862 by the U.S. government now houses 24 million specimens and artifacts in its collections, some of which are maintained in its Human Development Anatomy Center. NMHM publishes online a research project of the Carnegie Institution for Science, the authoritative Carnegie Stages of Early Human Development for sexual reproduction (i.e., from fertilization) which has become an international system for universal comparison of the embryonic development of most vertebrates. Deceased human embryos were collected from around the world, beginning with those from the hospital at John Hopkins University. The narrative for sexual reproduction begins with Stage 1 which is described as follows, omitting terms which have “no scientific usefulness:”
Embryonic life commences with fertilization… when a spermatozoon makes contact with an oocyte… and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes… The three phases… will be included here under stage 1, the characteristic feature of which is unicellularity… The term “egg” is best reserved for… the breakfast table.
Yet, for example, Secretary of State Jerry Brown published wording on California’s official 2010 personhood petition stating that the term person would be defined, “to include fertilized human eggs.” Aside from the term egg being unscientific, a “fertilized egg” is itself a contradiction, for after conception, it ceases to be an “egg” and becomes something new – a distinct, living human being separate from mom, often programmed for a different blood type, and half the time, it’s a boy, and his Y-chromosome is certainly not part of the mother’s body.