I have to disagree. I refuse to put human life on a pedestal. We aren't that great (yeah, I'm still loyal to the species, but we're not *that* cool). We aren't the smartest species - dolphins are smarter. We aren't the most loving of species - I'm convinced that dogs have a higher capacity for love than us. We aren't even the best killers (why is that a good thing?) - there are viruses that are way more efficient killers than us. We don't even make up the highest percentage of biomass per species on the Earth, far from it. Plus we don't know what lurks out there in the rest of the universe - I wouldn't be so snooty about being human. We've got tools and that's about it.
To answer your question:
The quick answer is that DNA makes it different from an amoeba (which is single cell, but I digress). Different recipe, same ingredients, different dish.
What makes a human before it multiplies any different from an amoeba before it multiplies?
The long answer, it's just information. A single cell human embyro is a lot like an amoeba in structure, but more helpless. The argument I was trying to make in my last post is that all life is similar, related, and can be viewed as a single lifeform in and of itself. Saying that life begins at birth is really meaningless because it's a continuum. You can't make a cutoff for abortion based on what is life and what isn't, because it all is.
As a society of functionally equivalent beings, we need to make practical laws based on the overall good. It's a messy business. Some people will get screwed, and in my book that includes people at the embryonic stage. Our laws and taboos should be made with compassion - the whole do unto others as you would have them do unto you thing, but balanced with practicality.
If the cutoff is based on compassion, I think abortions are okay until the fetus develops a nervous system. If the kid can feel the pain of being scraped out of a uterus, then it's a no-no. Before that, research away :-)
I'll probably never have an abortion, but I don't want some righteous idiot forcing me to give birth against my will. I may never have the chance to use my own embryonic stem cells, but I don't want some righteous idiot forcing me to die if I have an organ fail when it could be replaced by a cloned organ.
I think that all forms of stem cell research should be pursued. The problem on the other end is population control. If stem cell therapies pan out, then people are going to live a lot longer. Hopefully people will choose to reproduce less.
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