Viewpoint: ‘The fetus is 1/25th of an inch’ Texas abortion ban bungles the science on when human life begins, contends biologist and professor -…

Now that early abortion is essentially banned and criminalized in Texas, with other states soon to debate similar legislation, its important to reflect on one of the key issues raised by this new law: When does human life begin? Here is a background primer on human prenatal development.

Understanding the biology is more important than ever, because the new Texas lawis even more draconian than it appears to be at first blush, if thats even possible. It bans abortion at 6 weeks, but this cutoff is actually 4 weeks after conception when the fetus is 1/25th of an inch. Counting gestation from the last menstrual period is archaic, perhaps a holdover from the days when most obstetricians were male. And as anyone who has ever suspected she is pregnant knows, that reasoning is absurdly wrong. The morning-after pill is not a two-weeks-later pill. Nonetheless and unfortunately, much of the media have spread the meaningless 6-week factoid.

Im the author of several college textbooks, on human genetics, human anatomy and physiology, and intro biology. Being a biologist, a textbook author, and a mother, Ive thought a great deal about the question of when a human life begins. So here are my selections of times at which a biologist might argue a human organism is alive. Ill save my opinion for the end.

My answer? #14.

The ability of a fetus to survive outside of a womans body sets a practical, if fluid, technological limit on defining when a sustainable human life begins.

Having an active genome, tissue layers, a notochord, a beating heart none of these matter if the organism cannot survive where humans survive, untethered and breathing oxygen.

Technology has taken us to the ends of the prenatal spectrum, yet not provided too much for the middle, other than fetal surgeries for a handful of conditions. We can collect and select gametes, and even do the same for very early embryos, allowing those without specific diseases to continue development. At the other end, the gestational age at which a premature infant can survive hasnt crept younger by much over the years.

So until an artificial uterusbecomes a practical reality, technology defines, for me, when a human life begins: at viability outside a womans body.

[Note: This article is adapted from a previous piece I posted on my website]

Ricki Lewis has a PhD in genetics and is a science writer and author of several human genetics books.She is an adjunct professor for the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College.Follow her at herwebsiteor Twitter@rickilewis

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Viewpoint: 'The fetus is 1/25th of an inch' Texas abortion ban bungles the science on when human life begins, contends biologist and professor -...