When two worlds collide...life begins.

Getting into differing viewpoints on birth control can become very edgy at best. I will preface my viewpoint with those of (LDS) church leaders and also opinions from the scientific, medical, and governmental fields. I will begin the post with the question, “What is life?” followed by “When does life begin?”

“Life” – the general condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic and dead organisms, is manifested by growth through metabolism, a means of reproduction, and internal regulation in response to the environment. (Webster's College Dictionary)

Life for a human is defined as, any individual of the genus Homo, especially a member of the species, Homo Sapiens; a person distinguished from other animals; such beings are unique from all other beings in that they have 46 human chromosomes in every cell. A Down’s syndrome (sometimes referred to as “Triple X" ) human has an extra chromosome. They are human, but humans with an abnormal number of chromosomes. Abnormalities occur within the human family, extra digits, blindness, etc.

When does life begin? “It is not a question of when “meaningful life” begins or when the spirit “quickens” the body. In the biological sciences, it is known that life begins when two germ cells unite to become one cell, bringing together twenty-three chromosomes from both the father and from the mother.” (Russell M. Nelson, “Reverence for Life,” Ensign, May 1985, 11)

“There is no longer serious doubt in my mind that human life exists within the womb from the very onset of pregnancy.” (Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 291, no. 22, p. 1189.)

The more scientific knowledge of fetal development that has been learned, the more science has confirmed that the beginning of any one human individual’s life, biologically speaking, begins at the completion of the union of his father’s sperm and his mother’s ovum, a process called "conception," "fertilization" or "fecundation." This is so because this being, from fertilization, is alive, human, sexed, complete and growing.

In 1982, lengthy hearings in the U.S. Senate and the two-volume report of the Human Life Bill defined "conception" and used it exclusively to mean the time of union of sperm and ovum. "Human Life Bill," (U.S. Senate Common Judiciary, Subcommittee of Separation of Powers, 97th Congress, S-158, April-June 1982, Serial No. J-97-16)

Sperm enter the woman’s vagina, swim through the cavity of her uterus and out through her Fallopian tubes. This can take as brief a time as five minutes to pass through the uterus and reach the tubes, and as brief as another 15 minutes to pass through the tubes and reach the ovaries. The egg, breaking out of the shell of her ovary, is penetrated by the head of one spermatozoa. Immediately the ovum creates a chemical or electrical charge or fence preventing other sperm from entering.

The pronucleus of the sperm, containing its 23 chromosomes, in about 12 hours migrates to meet the ovum’s pronucleus with its 23 chromosomes. Their fusion takes about 2 hours.
Then in another 18 hours this 46 chromosome nucleus divides into two cells.Then into 3 cells at which time some new opinion believes the "decision" is made to stay single or pro-gram to divide into twins. Then to 4 cells, to 8, to 16 and on and on. (Jones and Schraeder, "The Process of Human Fertilization," Fertility and Sterility, vol. 48, no. 2, Aug. 1987, p. 191 Word Wars, E. Diamond, Physician, Nov. 1992, Pp. 14-15 Personal Communication, J. Lejeune 1994)
Most use the moment of sperm penetration as the "moment of conception." Others wait until their pronuclei fuse at 12-14 hours to say conception is a completed process. In either case this new human life is complete at the first cell stage.

After much research I have concluded that life begins at "conception", which means when the sperm and egg join each other and begin to divide and grow.