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this has been excerpted from one of Diane's posts: They seem to contain only Christian theological positions. In Old Testament, I think, a man could be compensated for death of his wife, but not a fetus. How about that Aristotle? What about female babies? Definition of life The determining factor for many individuals, especially religious people, rests on the question: When does life begin? The question hasn't been easy to answer, and the answer changed throughout history. According to Philip G. Peters Jr., a University of Missouri School of Law professor, the philosopher Aristotle determined that a male baby was not considered a person until 40 days after birth. Ecclesiastical courts held to that definition until about 1600 A.D., when civil courts began to use 17 weeks after conception as the common definition. Harming a fetus at 17 weeks was considered a misdemeanor. In about 1860, conception became the basis of life's definition. All 50 states eventually adopted that definition, and killing a fetus was classified as murder. But in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court held in the hotly debated Roe v. Wade case that a woman could choose to end a pregnancy based on viability, the point at which a fetus could survive outside the womb. In other words, a fetus has no rights until birth. The decision did not apply to embryos created in a laboratory because they are created outside a woman's body and are not meant for implantation into the body. The Southern Baptist Convention threw in its influence in 1974 by committing to conception as the moral beginning of life. Scientists continue to debate the issue regarding embryos. Some, among them Dr. Maureen Condic, an associate professor of human embryology at the University of Utah, consider the first few cells of development as an embryo. The majority in the scientific community, including Dr. Douglas Melton, a co-director of stem cell research at Harvard University, defines a human embryo as "from implantation to the end of the eighth week of development." The bottom line, Missouri Right to Life executive director Susan Kline said, is: "Which do you believe - does life begin at conception or inception...when a sperm and egg come together or when the egg begins to grow and reproduce cells?" Many individuals, though, hold to what some consider the generally accepted scientific definition. "Most Missourians don't believe a few hundred cells in a dish equals a human being," Missouri Assistant Attorney General Karen King Mitchell declared at a January hearing over the ballot summary's wording. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn