From time to time, in a heat of discussion the question arises whether a fetus is a child.
Let's think about this dispassionately, without emotion, from pure biological perspective.
After joining of an egg cell and a sperm cell, a living organism is created in biological terms.
This living organism has got a human genetic code.
It belongs to human species.
Therefore it is absolutely correct and unquestionable to call this organism a human being belonging to human species.
The fact that this organism is a child of its parents is also an incontestable truth.
Whether we call it morula, blastula, zygote, embryo, fetus, child, infant or anything else,
it is just a matter of the language that we accept.
But on every level we deal with a human being.
Why, this being the case, some professor writes an article in which she states
that no one is able to convince
her that a fetus is a child?
Is it a sort of intellectual problem enabling her to accept that simple biological truth?
Of course, not. The problem
involvesthe emotional sphere.
It is easier for a woman to say, "I got rid of a fetus." than "I killed my own child."
Let's focus on the vocabulary used.
If a woman is pregnant with a baby, she loves it and wants it to be born,
but suddenly she miscarries, which unfortunately happens more and more often
due to the contaminated environment we live in,
she will never say that she has
lost an embryo, a fetus or a zygote.
She will always say that she has lost her child.
On the contrary, a woman who got rid of the problem, if she considered pregnancy as a problem,
and she underwent abortion, she would always claim that she got rid of a fetus.
The dignity of a human being, no matter whether young or old, is always the same.
The dignity is great and immeasurable
with any material categories.
Therefore, the problem of accepting the child as a human being has its source in emotions.
And only emotional attitude enables people to regard as a human being the organism
that is created through joining
an egg cell with a sperm cell.
In fact, a human being deserves this title
from the very beginning of its
existence until the last days of life.
Every human being deserves respect,
dignity and protection of life.
