"flipper" wrote in message
...
The definition is...

That's not a "definition" in the schoalarly sense of the word; it's a
"definition" riddled with "weasel words" meant to bias the reader to have a
particular reaction to it. One could write one from the opposite point of
view, obviously, referring to e.g., the "organic cell mass" rather than a
"living fetus."

Every live human on the planet has uncountably many cells both die naturally
and be killed through "overt acts" (e.g., taking a shower! -- you're sure to
get SOME live cells in there) each and every day. The cells that make up that
cow you're going to have for dinner are really not all that different than
those making up a fetus; in my mind the distinction of what sort of entity
deserves legal protection and what doesn't can't really be argued from a
biological perspective since most all animals are so similar at the biological
level. When I see one of those bumper stickers that says, "abortion stops a
beating heart!" (which isn't even true if the abortion is performed within
about a month after conception) I often think, "well, yeah, it does, but so
does slaughtering a chicken..."

I'm not attempting to make either a pro-choice or pro-life argument here, just
pointing out that biologically based arguments (from either side) don't really
hold a lot of weight IMHO.

---Joel