READ the FILE CAREFULLY AND DUE DATES
ESSAY 1—– DUE 03/10/23
TOPIC: – When does life begin?
Post are comprised of three elements:
1. Your own original post (OP), responding to the topic as described
1.
450-500 words 2 pages
2. Your OP should be written in
APA format (see the “APA Style Guide” under the
INFORMATION tab).
3.
Sources must be cited.
PLAGIARISM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.
4. Write in a professional way. Do not employ text shorthand, emojis, or the like.
FOLLOWING MATERIAL FOR ESSAY 1
After reading the brief in full, refer to the section titled “Emerging Issues”. There are four categories- “Physician Aided Dying”, “Palliative Care”, “Permanent Vegetative State”, and “Denial of Treatment”. Choose one of these categories as the theme of your OP. IF YOU SUBMITTED A PAPER ON PHYSICIAN AIDED DYING, DO NOT CHOOSE THAT TOPIC FOR THIS DISCUSSION.
You are encouraged to go beyond this briefing paper to other resources. Be sure to cite your references “in text” and list them at the end of your post.
LINKS
Since it is common for an individual’s views and feelings on this question to be strongly felt, we must all be especially careful to be respectful and professional in our writing. No aggressive comments will be tolerated.
There are many views on when life, or “human personhood”, begins. Is it at fertilization? Implantation in the uterus (~5 days)? Gastrulation (~2 weeks)? At the end of the 1st or 2nd trimester? At the point the fetus is viable outside the uterus (~24 weeks)? At delivery? Or at some other time or event?
To be sure we’re all using the same terminology, here are some definitions:
Fertilization: the fusion of the sperm and oocyte (egg). The result is a “zygote”.
Implantation: Fertilization usually occurs in the Fallopian Tube that connects the ovary and the uterus. The zygote then travels down the Fallopian Tube to the uterus, where it attaches and sinks into the inner wall of the uterus.
Embryo: the term that describes the developing tissue during the first 8 weeks.
Fetus: the term used from week 8 through delivery.
Gastrulation: an early stage of embryonic development when cells begin to differentiate into layers from which different types of tissue will arise.
Viability: the point at which the fetus is sufficiently developed that it can survive outside the uterus. It assumes medical intervention to assist survival.
ESSAY 2
The Elements of Fiction — Coming of Age! (500 words) 2 pages DUE tomorrow MIDNIGHT 03/08/23
OBJECTIVES
Students will read several “Coming of Age” stories and begin to explore the elements that comprise this type of story. They will compare and contrast two short stories in preparation for their next essay.
1) Read “The Guide to Being a Groupie” by Lisa Gabriele and “A & P” by John Updike.
2) In preparation for your essay, download and read “Moral versus Theme.” For this essay, compare and contrast the lessons the two protagonists learn in each story.
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In a coming of age story, also known as a “Bildungsroman,” the protagonist is often initiated into adulthood through knowledge, experience, or both, often by a process of disillusionment. The protagonist typically arrives at an “adult” understanding of self and/or the world through a destruction of a false sense of security, or in some way, the loss of innocence.
This kind of story is memorable because the character undergoes adventures and/or inner turmoil in her growth and development as a human being. Some characters come to grips with the recognition of cruelty and abuse of power in the world—through war, violence, death, racism, and hatred—while others deal with family, friends, or community issues–through witnessing abuse of power or sacrifice.
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Artists tell stories, in prose, in poetry, in film, in art and in music to show a young person as he or she “comes of age. In each story, he or she is trying to make sense of society and the demands it makes of her. Each protagonist is trying to figure out where he or she fits in, especially in the face of a problem or situation that
“Coming of age” may mean accepting ambiguity—that there are no clear-cut answers in the face of inequity or something harmful–or of reacting to that ambiguity in a manner that may not be expected or acceptable to society. These reactions typically illustrate the protagonist’s growth.
What are the issues of “coming of age” faced by the teen protagonists in “A&P” and “Guide to Being a Groupie?” What problems do they face? How are they related? How are they different? What moral issue does each character finally recognize and address in their stories?
Essay 3 750 words (3 pages) DUE FRI 03/10/23
Now that you have identified the conflict in each story, consider the conflicts you have encountered as you “come of age.”
What issues have you faced that showed you a harsher view of the world? Maybe you learned something about people and the ways in which they can abuse power, or maybe someone you trusted showed you that they were not worthy of your trust. Perhaps the conflict gave you a new view of religion or politics or gave you a new perspective on where you stand in the world as someone of a specific gender or race. Whatever the issue, tell me about a “coming of age” story, large or small, that you experienced and felt enlightened by, no matter how disillusioned or misguided you felt in the end.
Alternate journal entry: Tell me about a coming-of-age story or film that meant a great deal to you. For instance, many high school students cite “Catcher in the Rye” as a novel that had a significant impact on them and changed their world views. I want to know how this novel, or any story or film, affected you and how it made you change. Remember, you must write the correct length for this journal entry, so do not spend time summarizing the story or film. Assume that I have seen or read the story you select. I want to know more about your reaction to the story, rather than you summarizing its plot.
–Read “Common Themes in Literature” to help you with this assignment.
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A&P In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits. I’m in the third check-out slot, with my back to the door, so I don’t see them until they’re over by the bread. The one that caught my eye first was the one in the plaid green two-piece. She was a chunky kid, with a good tan and a sweet broad soft-looking can with those two crescents of white just under it, where the sun never seems to hit, at the top of the backs of her legs. I stood there with my hand on a box of HiHo crackers trying to remember if I rang it up or not. I ring it up again and the customer starts giving me hell. She’s one of these cash-register-watchers, a witch about fifty with rouge on her cheekbones and no eyebrows, and I knowit made her day to trip me up. She’d been watching cash registers forty years and probably never seen a mistake before. By the time I got her feathers smoothed and her goodies into a bag — she gives me alittle snort in passing, if she’d been born at the right time they would have burned her over in Salem — by the time I get her on her way the girls had circled around the bread and were coming back, without a pushcart, back my way along the counters, in the aisle between the check-outs and the Special bins. They didn’t even have shoes on. There was this chunky one, with the two-piece — it was bright green and the seams on the bra were still sharp and her belly was still pretty pale so I guessed she just got it (the suit) — there was this one, with one of those chubby berry-faces, the lips all bunched together under her nose, this one, and a tall one, with black hair that hadn’t quite frizzed right, and one of these sunburns right across under the eyes, and a chin that was too long — you know, the kind of girl other girls think is very “striking” and “attractive” but never quite makes it, as they very well know, which is why they like her so much — and then the third one, that wasn’t quite so tall. She was the queen. She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn’t look around, not this queen, she just walked straight on slowly, on these long white prima donna legs. She came down a little hard on her heels, as if she didn’t walk in her bare feet that much, putting down her heels and then letting the weight move along to her toes as if she was testing the floor with every step, putting a little deliberate extra action into it. You never know for sure how girls’ minds work (do you really think it’s a mind in there or just a little buzz like a bee in a glassjar?) but you got the idea she had talked the other two into coming in here with her, and now she was showing them how to do it, walk slow and hold yourself straight. She had on a kind of dirty-pink – – beige maybe, I don’t know — bathing suit with a little nubble all over it and, what got me, the straps were down. They were off her shoulders looped loose around the cool tops of her arms, and I guess as a result the suit had slipped a little on her, so all around the top of the cloth there was this shining rim. If it hadn’t been there you wouldn’t have known there could have been anything whiter than those shoulders. With the straps pushed off, there was nothing between the top of the suit and the top of her head except just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty. She had sort of oaky hair that the sun and salt had bleached, done up in a bun that was unravelling, and a kind of prim face. Walking into the A & P with your straps down, I suppose it’s the only kind of face you She must have felt in the corner of her eye me and over my shoulder Stokesie in the second slot watching, but she didn’t tip. Not this queen. She kept her eyes moving across the racks, and stopped, and turned so slow it made my stomach rub the inside of my apron, and buzzed to the other two, who kind of huddled against her for relief, and they all three of them went up the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-ri ce-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks- rackers-and- cookies aisle. From the third slot I look straight up this aisle to the meat counter, and I watched them all the way. The fat one with the tan sort of fumbled with the cookies, but on second thought she put the packages back. The sheep pushing their carts down the aisle — the girls were walking against the usual traffic (not that we have one-way signs or anything) — were pretty hilarious. You could see them, when Queenie’s white shoulders dawned on them, kind of jerk, or hop, or hiccup, but their eyes snapped back to their own baskets and on they pushed. I bet you could set off dynamite in an A & P and the people would by and large keep reaching and checking oatmeal off their lists and muttering “Let me see, there was a third thing, began with A, asparagus, no, ah, yes, applesauce!” or whatever it is they do mutter. But there was no doubt, this jiggled them. A few house-slaves in pin curlers even looked around after pushing their carts past to make sure what they had seen was correct. You know, it’s one thing to have a girl in a bathing suit down on the beach, where what with the glare nobody can look at each other much anyway, and another thing in the cool of the A & P, under the fluorescent lights, against all those stacked packages, with her feet paddling along naked over our checkerboard green-and-cream rubber-tile floor. “Oh Daddy,” Stokesie said beside me. “I feel so faint.” “Darling,” I said. “Hold me tight.” Stokesie’s married, with two babies chalked up on his fuselage already, but as far as I can tell that’s the only difference. He’s twenty-two, and I was nineteen this April. “Is it done?” he asks, the responsible married man finding his voice. I forgot to say he thinks he’s going to be manager some sunny day, maybe in 1990 when it’s called the Great Alexandrov and Petrooshki Tea Company or something. What he meant was, our town is five miles from a beach, with a big summer colony out on the Point, but we’re right in the middle of town, and the women generally put on a shirt or shorts or something before they get out of the car into the street. And anyway these are usually women with six children and varicose veins mapping their legs and nobody, including them, could care less. As I say, we’re right in the middle of town, and if you stand at our front doors you can see two banks and the Congregational church and the newspaper store and three real-estate offices and about twenty-seven old free-loaders tearing up Central Street because the sewer broke again. It’s not as if we’re on the Cape; we’re north of Boston and there’s people in this town haven’t seen the ocean for twenty years. The girls had reached the meat counter and were asking McMahon something. He pointed, they pointed, and they shuffled out of sight behind a pyramid of Diet Delight peaches. All that was left for us to see was old McMahon patting his mouth and looking after them sizing up their joints. Poor kids, I began to feel sorry for them, they couldn’t help it. Now here comes the sad part of the story, at:least my family says it’s sad but I don’t think it’s sad myself. The store’s pretty empty, it being Thursday afternoon, so there was nothing much to do except lean on the register and wait for the girls to show up again. The whole store was like a pinball machine and I didn’t know which tunnel they’d come out of. After a while they come around out of the far aisle, around the light bulbs, records at discount of the Caribbean Six or Tony Martin Sings or some such gunk you wonder they waste the wax on, sixpacks of candy bars, and plastic toys done up in cellophane that faIl apart when a kid looks at them anyway. Around they come, Queenie still leading the way, and holding a little gray jar in her hand. Slots Three through Seven are unmanned and I could see her wondering between Stokes and me, but Stokesie with his usual luck draws an old party in baggy gray pants who stumbles up with four giant cans of pineapple juice (what do these bums Then everybody’s luck begins to run out. Lengel comes in from haggling with a truck full of cabbages on the lot and is about to scuttle into that door marked MANAGER behind which he hides all day when the girls touch his eye. Lengel’s pretty dreary, teaches Sunday school and the rest, but he doesn’t miss that much. He comes over and says, “Girls, this isn’t the beach.” Queenie blushes, though maybe it’s just a brush of sunburn I was noticing for the first time, now that she was so close. “My mother asked me to pick up a jar of herring snacks.” Her voice kind of startled me, the way voices do when you see the people first, coming out so flat and dumb yet kind of tony, too, the way it ticked over “pick up” and “snacks.” All of a sudden I slid right down her voice into her living room. Her father and the other men were standing around in ice-cream coats and bow ties and the women were in sandals picking up herring snacks on toothpicks off a big plate and they were all holding drinks the color of water with olives and sprigs of mint in them. When my parents have somebody over they get lemonade and if it’s a real racy affair Schlitz in tall glasses with “They’ll Do It Every Time” cartoons stencilled on. “That’s all right,” Lengel said. “But this isn’t the beach.” His repeating this struck me as funny, as if it hadjust occurred to him, and he had been thinking all these years the A & P was a great big dune and he was the head lifeguard. He didn’t like my smiling — -as I say he doesn’t miss much — but he concentrates on giving the girls that sad Sunday- school-superintendent stare. Queenie’s blush is no sunburn now, and the plump one in plaid, that I liked better from the back — a really sweet can — pipes up, “We weren’t doing any shopping. We just came in for the one thing.” “That makes no difference,” Lengel tells her, and I could see from the way his eyes went that he hadn’t noticed she was wearing a two-piece before. “We want you decently dressed when you come in here.” “We are decent,” Queenie says suddenly, her lower lip pushing, getting sore now that she remembers her place, a place from which the crowd that runs the A & P must look pretty crummy. Fancy Herring Snacks flashed in her very blue eyes. “Girls, I don’t want to argue with you. After this come in here with your shoulders covered. It’s our policy.” He turns his back. That’s policy for you. Policy is what the kingpins want. What the others want is juvenile delinquency. All this while, the customers had been showing up with their carts but, you know, sheep, seeing a scene, they had all bunched up on Stokesie, who shook open a paper bag as gently as peeling a peach, not wanting to miss a word. I could feel in the silence everybody getting nervous, most of all Lengel, who asks me, “Sammy, have you rung up this purchase?” I thought and said “No” but it wasn’t about that I was thinking. I go through the punches, 4, 9, GROC, TOT — it’s more complicated than you think, and after you do it often enough, it begins to make a lttle song, that you hear words to, in my case “Hello The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say “I quit” to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero. They keep right on going, into the electric eye; the door flies open and they flicker across the lot to their car, Queenie and Plaid and Big Tall Goony-Goony (not that as raw material she was so bad), leaving me with Lengel and a kink in his eyebrow. “Did you say something, Sammy?” “I said I quit.” “I thought you did.” “You didn’t have to embarrass them.” “It was they who were embarrassing us.” I started to say something that came out “Fiddle-de-doo.” It’s a saying of my grand- mother’s, and I know she would have been pleased. “I don’t think you know what you’re saying,” Lengel said. “I know you don’t,” I said. “But I do.” I pull the bow at the back of my apron and start shrugging it off my shoulders. A couple customers that had been heading for my slot begin to knock against each other, like scared pigs in a chute. Lengel sighs and begins to look very patient and old and gray. He’s been a friend of my parents for years. “Sammy, you don’t want to do this to your Mom and Dad,” he tells me. It’s true, I don’t. But it seems to me that once you begin a gesture it’s fatal not to go through with it. I fold the apron, “Sammy” stitched in red on the pocket, and put it on the counter, and drop the bow tie on top of it. The bow tie is theirs, if you’ve ever wondered. “You’ll feel this for the rest of your life,” Lengel says, and I know that’s true, too, but remembering how he made that pretty girl blush makes me so scrunchy inside I punch the No Sale tab and the machine whirs “pee-pul” and the drawer splats out. One advantage to this scene taking place in summer, I can follow this up with a clean exit, there’s no fumbling around getting your coat and galoshes, I just saunter into the electric eye in my white shirt that my mother ironed the night before, and the door heaves itself open, and outside the sunshine is skating around on the asphalt. I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course. There wasn’t anybody but some young married screaming with her children about some candy they didn’t get by the door of a powder-blue Falcon station wagon. Looking back in the big windows, over the bags of peat moss and aluminum lawn furniture stacked on the pavement, I could see Lengel in my place in the slot, checking the sheep through. His face was dark gray and his back stiff, as if he’djust had an injection of iron, and my stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter. |
STATING THEMES
These are a just a few of the many possible literary subjects and themes. the point to remember is that a subject is not a theme: a subject is some dimension of the human condition examined by the work; a theme is a statement, direct or implied, about the subject. The themes about the subjects on the list are still fairly general. As a critical writer discussing a particular literary work, you’ll need to bring your observations about theme closer to the work.
Common Themes in Literature
1
. The Individual in Nature
a. Nature is at war with each of us and proves our vulnerability.
b. People are out of place in Nature and need technology to survive.
c. People are destroying nature and themselves with uncontrolled technology.
2. The Individual in Society
a. Society and a person’s inner nature are always at war.
b. Social influences determine a person’s final destiny.
c. Social influences can only complete inclinations formed by Nature.
d. A person’s identity is determined by place in society.
e. In spite of the pressure to be among people, and individual is essentially alone and frightened.
3. An individual’s Relation to the gods.
a. The god(s) are benevolent and will reward human beings for overcoming evil and temptation.
b. The gods mock the individual and torture him or her for presuming to be great.
c. The gods are jealous of and constantly thwarts human aspiration to power and knowledge.
d. The gods are indifferent toward human beings and let them run their
undetermined course.
e. There are no gods in whom people can place their faith or yearning for meaning
in the universe.
4. Human Relations
a. Marriage is a perpetual comedy bound to fail.
b. Marriage is a relationship in which each partner is supported
and enabled to grow.
c. An old man marrying a young woman is destined to be a cuckold.
d. Parents should not sacrifice all for a better life for their children.
e. There are few friends who will make extreme sacrifices.
5. Growth and Initiation
a. A boy and a girl must go through a special trial or series of trials before maturing.
b. Manhood or womanhood is often established by an abrupt, random crisis,
sometimes at an unusually early age.
c. Aspects of childhood are retained in all of us, sometimes hindering growth, sometimes
providing the only joy in later life.
d. A person grows only in so far as he or she must face a crisis of confidence
or identity.
6. Time
a. Enjoy life now, for the present moment, because we all die too soon.
b. By the time we understand life, there is too little left to live.
7. Death
a. Death is part of living, giving life its final meaning.
b. Death is the ultimate absurd joke on life.
c. There is no death, only a different plane or mode of life without physical decay.
d. Without love, death often appears to be the only alternative to life.
8. Alienation
a. An individual is isolated from fellow human beings and foolishly
tries to bridge the gaps.
b. Through alienation comes self-knowledge.
c. Modern culture is defective because it doesn’t provide group ties which in
primitive cultures makes alienation virtually impossible.
Identification of Literary Themes
In most works of fiction that deal with the theme of
bildungsroman
, or coming of age, there is usually a single incident or a series of events that mark the passage from childhood to adulthood
When you read a poem, short story, novel, or drama, you may find one of the following themes as the central idea:
Literary Motifs
loss of innocence, self-discovery, initiation rites, the quest, the inevitability of death
Conflicting Forces
appearance vs. reality, man vs. nature, man vs. himself, man vs. society, freedom vs. enslavement, fate vs. free will, city vs. country
Abstract Ideas
nature, death, love, hate, friendship, alienation, utopia, power, heroism, success
Issues and Problems Raised in the Story
philosophical, spiritual, moral social, political, psychological, aesthetic
Once you identify the general theme, determine specifically what the author is saying about the subject: in
Oedipus Rex by Sophicles, Oedipus’ downfall is the result of arrogance. Then be sure to find the evidence in the story to defend your statement of the theme. If you find evidence to the contrary, reconsider your original idea: for example, the gods or fate rather than Oedipus controls the destiny of Oedipus. Often you must reread the story several times as well as think about and discuss many aspects of it before coming to a final conclusion about the theme.
Once you have identified the theme, then you are ready to examine how this theme is expressed in and reinforced by the author’s depiction of character, his choice of setting and narrator, his style, tone, structure, plot, and so on.
What exactly is this elusive thing called theme?
Finding the Theme
Answering the following Questions will help us to uncover the theme in a story:
1- What does the title tell us ?
2- What do the repeating patterns and symbols show us ?
3- What allusions are made throughout the story?
4- What are the details and particulars in the story?
What greater meaning may they have?
We should remember that theme, plot, and structure are inseparable, all helping to inform and reflect back on each other. We should also be aware that a theme we determine from a story never completely explains the story. It is simply one of the elements that make up the whole.
Moral and Theme
The controlling idea or central insight of a story is its theme. It is the underlying or philosophical idea that the story conveys.
To determine the theme of a story, we ask what insights into life or about human nature are revealed in the story.
Moral and Theme:
The words moral and theme are not interchangeable. Occasionally the theme of a story may be expressed as a moral principle, but usually the idea of a moral is too narrow to be used as a statement of theme.
The word theme is preferable for several reasons:
1- The objective of most fiction is to provide enjoyment, rather than to preach a sermon
2- In looking for theme, one does not look for a lesson
3- Interpretive fiction increases our awareness of life. The writer’s purpose is not to inculcate a code or set of moral rules. The purpose is often to
observe and to provoke thought.
To discover the theme of a story we should ask, “What does the story reveal?” rather than “What does the story teach?”
Themes in interpretive fiction often challenge our beliefs and provide rather somber truths. A reader need not accept a theme that is contrary to his or her personal beliefs. However,
any theme is worthy of consideration in that it is someone’s view.
Some important principles to remember when stating a Theme:
A theme may be stated briefly or explored in length.
A rich story may offer several complex insights into life .
When discussing theme, we should remember the following guidelines:
1- There is no “right” or set way of determining theme. Theme may be discovered by examining – changes to the protagonist;
– what the protagonist learned; or
– the nature of the conflicts.
2- A theme should be expressed in complete sentences. Single words such as “isolated” or “angry” are not adequate. A thematic statement presents an idea about the topic.
3- A theme should be stated as a generalization about life, society, or human nature. We shouldn’t refer to specific characters.
4- The theme generalization should not be larger than is justified by the details of the story.
5- Theme is the central unifying concept of a story. Therefore it must account for all the details in the story and not rely on supposed facts or assumptions from our own experience.
6- Theme should not be reduced to a cliché (an overused and unoriginal way of expressing an idea.).
–Taken from www.orange.k12.nc.us/crhs/faculty/…/UNIVERSAL%20
Themes
The theme of a fable is its moral.
The theme of a parable is its teaching.
The theme of a piece of fiction is its view about life and how people behave.
In fiction, the theme is not intended to teach or preach. In fact, it is not presented directly at all. We extract it from the characters, action, and setting that make up the story.
In other words, we must figure out the theme ourselves.
Exploring themes increases our awareness of life, expands our horizons, and helps us feel truths of which we were only vaguely or intellectually aware.
The purpose of a story is not to state a theme, but rather to verify it and bring it to life. By appealing to our intellect, emotions, senses, and imagination, authors help us discover and explore the themes within their stories.
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American College of Pediatricians ● March 2017 ● www.ACPeds.org
When Human Life Begins
American College of Pediatricians – March 2017
ABSTRACT: 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, a member of the species Homo sapiens, needing only
the proper environment in order to grow and develop. The difference between the individual in its
adult stage and in its zygotic stage is one of form, not nature. This statement focuses on the scientific
evidence of when an individual human life begins.
It has been recognized for millennia that both a paternal (semen) and a maternal contribution are required
for the formation of a new human life. The first recorded embryological reports are in the fifth century
B.C. books of Hippocrates, who noted from the study of incubating chicken eggs that the nature of the
bird can be likened to that of the man. A century later, Aristotle studied the chick and other embryos but
incorrectly thought that they arose from a formless mass of semen combined with menstrual blood. In
1677, Hamm and Leeuwenhoek observed spermatozoa under the microscope, but thought they contained
miniature humans. Spallanzani demonstrated in 1775 that both oocyte and sperm were necessary. In
1827, von Baer observed oocytes in the ovarian follicle and in the Fallopian tube and blastocysts in the
uterus of a dog. 1
Finally, it was with the advent of the cell theory developed by Schleiden and Schwann in 1839 that it was
recognized that the embryo develops from the single-celled zygote.1 Directly based upon this observation
and the knowledge that the single-celled zygote was alive and an independent being, in 1859 the
American Medical Association published a statement strongly opposing abortion, particularly
commenting on the independence of the zygote during the time between its formation and its
implantation. 2,3
Although the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1965 attempted to redefine
“conception” to mean implantation rather than fertilization,4 medical dictionaries and even English
language dictionaries both before and after 19665,6 define “conception” as synonymous with fertilization
(sometimes via the intermediary term of “fecundation”).7,8,9 Moore’s 1974 edition of a human
embryology textbook states that development is a continuous process that begins when an ovum is
fertilized by a sperm and ends at death. It is a process of change and growth that transforms the zygote, a
single cell, into a multicellular adult human being.10 Moore’s 2008 edition emphasizes that development
does not end at birth but extends into early adulthood.1 Professor Emeritus of Human Embryology of the
University of Arizona School of Medicine, Dr. C. Ward Kischer, affirms that “Every human
embryologist, worldwide, states that the life of the new individual human being begins at fertilization
(conception).” 11 Even authors who philosophically lean towards not attributing the same value to human
life at the one-cell stage as they do to later stages of development admit that “As far as human ‘life’ per
se, it is, for the most part, uncontroversial among the scientific and philosophical community that life
begins at the moment when the genetic information contained in the sperm and ovum combine to form a
genetically unique cell.” 12
J. T. Eberl goes on to say – and this is really the debate:
“However, what is controversial is whether this genetically unique cell should be considered a human
person.”
Nonetheless, one could sensibly make the case that “personhood” can only exist in a living human being
and that the division of these two entities is arbitrary at best.
American College of Pediatricians ● March 2017 ● www.ACPeds.org
In the last century, and particularly in the last decades, much more detailed observation has been made of
the first 24 hours of the life of a human being. During this time the cell membranes of a sperm and ovum
fuse and the first cell division occurs. When during this 24 hours does, a new human life begin?
Embryologists are less united on this question. This Statement aims to clarify this issue.
During the first 24 hours, once the sperm and egg bind to each other, the membranes of these two cells
fuse, creating in less than a second a single hybrid cell: the zygote, or one-cell embryo.13,14 To protect his
or her bodily integrity, within minutes the zygote initiates changes in its ionic composition, releasing zinc
in a spark that induces “egg activation,” first modifying the surrounding zona pellucida blocking further
sperm binding to the cell surface.15,16,17 Cooperation between sperm and egg components to achieve
replication of DNA, cell division, and growth occurs as maternally and paternally derived factors in the
zygote begin interacting with and chemically modifying each other to initiate the final round of meiotic
division in the maternally derived nucleus15,16 to enable DNA replication.
Finally, the nuclear membranes of the pronuclei break down (called syngamy—technically, pronuclear
membranes). No new nuclear membrane encompassing both pronuclei is formed; rather, mitosis occurs
and two cells, each with its own identical nucleus encased in a nuclear membrane, are formed.18
Furthermore, studies with mice embryos demonstrate that despite the plasticity of which allows disrupted
blastomeres to form an entire organism, ordinarily the polarity of the embryo is determined by the site of
sperm penetration.19,20 (Evidence from other mammalian species suggests that the same may be true in
humans, but does not offer definitive proof).
Some embryologists consider fertilization a day-long process and regard the beginning of human life as
occurring near the end of this process at syngamy,1,18,21 whereas others consider the time of cell
membrane fusion when the embryo gives evidence of being a different kind of cell than either oocyte or
sperm, to be the beginning of a new human life, since within minutes the new embryo acts to prevent the
merger of another sperm with itself and starts the business of self-replication. The single-celled embryo
is a very different kind of cell than that of sperm or oocyte, and contains a unique genome that will
determine most future bodily features and functions of his or her lifetime.
An organism is defined as “(1) a complex structure of interdependent and subordinate elements whose
relations and properties are largely determined by their function in the whole, and (2) an individual
constituted to carry on the activities of life by means of organs separate in function but mutually
dependent: a living being.” 22
It is clear that from the time of cell fusion, the embryo consists of elements (from both maternal and
paternal origin) which function interdependently in a coordinated manner to carry on the function of the
development of the human organism. From this definition, the single-celled embryo is not just a cell, but
an organism, a living being, a human being.
The American College of Pediatricians concurs with the body of scientific evidence that
corroborates that a unique human life starts when the sperm and egg bind to each other in a
process of fusion of their respective membranes and a single hybrid cell called a zygote, or one-cell
embryo, is created.
As physicians dedicated both to scientific truth and to the Hippocratic tradition, the College values all
human lives equally from the moment of conception (fertilization) until natural death. Consistent with its
mission to “enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being,” the
College, therefore, opposes active measures23 that would prematurely end the life of any child at any stage
of development from conception to natural death.
American College of Pediatricians ● March 2017 ● www.ACPeds.org
Original author: Fred de Miranda, MD, March 2004
Updated: Dr. Patricia Lee June, MD, March 2017
The American College of Pediatricians is a national medical association of licensed physicians and healthcare
professionals who specialize in the care of infants, children, and adolescents. The mission of the College is to
enable all children to reach their optimal physical and emotional health and well-being.
References
1 Moore KL, Persaud TVN. The Developing Human, 7th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders-Elsevier, 2003; 31; Carlson
BM, Human Embryology and Developmental Biology, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Mosby-Elsevier, 2004; 2, 8-10, 31.
2 Report on Criminal Abortion, JAMA, Vol XII-6, 1859. Three causes for abortion were listed: first “a widespread
popular ignorance of the true character of the crime – a belief, even among mothers themselves, that the fetus is not
alive until after the period of quickening.” “Abundant proof upon each of these points has been prepared by the
committee, and is elsewhere* being published”; and concluded “In accordance, therefore with the facts in the
case…publicly express its abhorrence of the unnatural …crime of abortion; that it avow its true nature, as … the
wanton and murderous destruction of her child” and called for revision of current laws. The AMA unanimously
approved this resolution.
3 North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, Jan. 1859, et seq. “If the foetus be a lifeless excretion, however soon
it might have received life, the offence is comparatively as nothing; if the foetus be already, and from the very
outset, a human being, alive, however early its stage of development, and existing independently of its mother,
though drawing its sustenance from her, the offence becomes, in every stage of pregnancy, MURDER. …..the ovum
does not originate in the uterus; that for a time, however slight, during its passage through the Fallopian tube, its
connection with the mother is wholly broken; that its subsequent history is one merely of development, its
attachment merely for nutrition and shelter, it is not rational to suppose that its total independence, thus one
established, becomes again merged into total identity…or that life…dates from any other epoch than conception” p.
69-70.
4 ACOG Terminology Bulletin. Terms used in reference to the fetus. Chicago. ACOG No. 1. Sept 1965. If ACOG
ever published a rationale for this change, the American College of Pediatricians has been unable to find it.
However, two physicians associated with Planned Parenthood shed some light upon a probable rationale. At the
1959 Planned Parenthood/Population Council symposium, Dr. Bent Boving argued for changing the definition by
moving the date of conception from when fertilization occurs to when implantation occurs. He said that “the social
advantage of [birth control] being considered to prevent conception rather than to destroy an established pregnancy
could depend upon something so simple as a prudent habit of speech.”1 Bent Boving, “Implantation Mechanisms,”
in Mechanics Concerned with Conception, ed. C.G. Hartman (New York: Pergamon Press, 1963), p. 386. Accessed
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginning_of_pregnancy_controversy.
In 1964, Dr. Christopher Tietze noted that that many religious and legal experts accept medical consensus as fact,
and said that “if a medical consensus develops and is maintained that pregnancy, and therefore life, begins at
implantation, eventually our brethren from the other faculties will listen.”2 Tietze would later win the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America Margaret Sanger Award for outstanding contributions to the pro-abortion
movement. Proceedings of the Second International Conference, Intra-Uterine Contraception, October 2-3, 1964,
New York, ed. Sheldon Segal, et al.., International Series, Excerpta Medica Foundation, No. 86, p. 212. Accessed
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginning_of_pregnancy_controversy.
5 The American College Dictionary, Random House, NY: 1956. p. 249.
American College of Pediatricians ● March 2017 ● www.ACPeds.org
6 Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, Williams and Wilkins Co. 21st ed, Baltimore 1966. pp. 352,583,586.
7 Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Merriam-Webster, Encyclopedia
Britannica, 1986. pp. 469.
8 Merriam-Webster Deluxe Dictionary, 10th collegiate Ed., Readers Digest, Pleasantville, NY, 1998. pp.
373,677,671.
9 Tabor’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary. 14th edition, FA Davis Co, Philadelphia., 1981. p. 322.
10 Moore KL. The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, WB Saunders Co, Philadelphia, 1974. p. 1
11 Kischer CW. The corruption of the science of human embryology, ABAC Quarterly. Fall 2002, American
Bioethics Advisory Commission.
12 Eberl JT. The beginning of personhood: A Thomistic biological analysis. Bioethics. 2000;14(2):134-157. Quote is
from page 135.
13 Vjugina U, Evans JP. New insights into the molecular basis of mammalian sperm-egg membrane interactions,
Frontiers in Bioscience. 13, 2, January 2008; 462-76.
14 Oren-Suissa Ω, Podbilewicz B. Cell fusion during development, Trends in Cell Biology 17, 11, November 2007;
537-46 cited in, Condic, ML. When does human life begin? A scientific perspective. Westchester Institute White
Paper 2008; 1(1) The Westchester Institute for Ethics & the Human Person, P.O. Box 78, 582 Columbus Ave.,
Thornwood, NY 10594, p. 3.
15 Cox LJ, et al., Sperm phospholipase czeta from humans and cynomolgus monkeys triggers Ca2+ oscillations,
activation and development of mouse oocytes, Reproduction 124, 5, November 2002; 611-23.
16 Saunders CM, Swann K, Lai FA. PLCzeta: A sperm-specific PLC and its potential role in fertilization,
Biochemical Society Symposia. 74, 2007; 23-36. cited in Condic, p. 3.
17 Duncan FE, Que EL, Zhang N, et. al. The zinc spark is an inorganic signature of human egg activation. Sci
Reports. 2016; 26:24737. doi:10.1038/srep24737.
18 Condic, ML. When does human life begin? A scientific perspective. Westchester Institute White Paper 2008; 1(1)
The Westchester Institute for Ethics & the Human Person, P.O. Box 78, 582 Columbus Ave., Thornwood, NY
10594 p. 5 (paraphrased).
19 Piotrowska, K, Zernicka-Goetz, M. “Role for Sperm in Spatial Patterning of the Early Mouse Embryo,” Nature
409 (2001): 5l7-521.
20 Gardner, RL. “Specification of Embryonic Axes Begins Before Cleavage in Normal Mouse Development,”
Development, 128 (2001): 839-847
21 Carlson BM. Human Embryology and Developmental Biology, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Mosby-Elsevier, 2004; 36.
22 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/organism. Accessed February 23,
2017.
American College of Pediatricians ● March 2017 ● www.ACPeds.org
23 Examples of these active measures include:
–induced abortion (When the life of the mother is at risk efforts should be made to save both mother and child,
recognizing that prior to viability it may be possible to save only the mother, and death of the embryo/fetus is
unintentional, i.e., in cases of tubal pregnancy.)
–embryo destruction and selective reduction of embryos and fetuses in multiple gestation pregnancies
–“contraception” which adversely affects implantation and leads to the death of the embryo.
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