Disclaimer: This blog post is meant for biological definition purposes. It is not meant to establish or argue any moral or philosophical points. [Esta publicación está disponible en español aquí.] A zygote is a human being. 1. The zygote is an organism. Fertilization – the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism – is […]
Two months ago I wrote the post “No, most late-term abortions are not medically necessary,” in which I used Guttmacher data to show that at least 75% of 13+ week abortions are elective (that is, they are not performed due to fetal or maternal health concerns). I said: One could argue that the proportion of […]
[Editor’s note: This post was originally published on July 13, 2016 and has recently been updated.] When it comes to The Abortion Debate™, both sides often try to focus on facets which make the opposition look worst. For example, pro-lifers like to talk about late-term abortions. Pro-choicers like to talk about rape and medically necessary […]
Texas law mandates that women seeking an abortion must be given an informational pamphlet on abortion and then wait 24 hours before undergoing an abortion procedure. This pamphlet was created in 2003 and is now being updated to reflect more current knowledge of fetal development and the effects of abortion. The new pamphlet was made […]
Last Wednesday, SPL published this blog post about an embryologist who conflated a scientific question with a philosophical question. Two years prior, the writer of the college biology textbook “Life,” Dr. Ricki Lewis (PhD), wrote a stunningly similar article called “When Does a Human Life Begin? 17 Timepoints.” I want to begin by pointing out that […]
What’s the most common argument you get into in the abortion debate? Do you argue about whether bodily rights justify abortion? Whether adoption is a better choice? Do you discuss the pros and cons of paid maternity leave, or maybe get into philosophical discussions about coma patients? There are plenty of complex topics and worthy […]
On Tuesday, April 28th, California State Assembly Bill 775 passed the State Assembly’s Committee on the Judiciary (vote of 7-3) and is now on its way to the Appropriations Committee of the State Assembly. AB 775 is also known as “The Reproductive FACT Act” (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care and Transparency), which just sounds so positive […]
Despite the very common misconception that the US is mostly pro-choice, the US is in fact majority pro-life (48% pro-life, 45% pro-choice). And probably most shocking to your average American: the youngest generation (you know, the one that just started voting) is most likely to say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances. Young people don’t just […]
Two years ago, Todd Akin kamikaze’d his career during an interview in which he said, “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Akin apologized for the comment, but it […]
A couple days ago, The Huffington Post published an article titled, “California Teen Pregnancy Rates Drop 60 Percent Thanks To Sex Education.” But wait! You think, after carefully reading the article. HuffPo is talking about teen birth rates, not teen pregnancy rates. Those aren’t the same thing. Too true, dear reader, too true. And that’s […]