What Is An Organism? Or, Why The Abortionist Must Be Fundamentalist When It Comes to Biological Science

At the 4:30 mark of this video appears a person protected from summary execution by private individuals without trial, by the United States Constitution. This person is distinguishable from biological and non-biological matter which is not a part of him by the conventions of modern biological science concerning the definition of an organism.

Consensus in modern biological thought concerning the definition of an organism includes especially contiguity (i.e., the systematic relationship of the interior cells of a multi-cellular organism, or the similar relationship of sub-cellular bodies within the wall of a monocellular organism) and homeostasis. These two characteristics imply the other functions we usually associate with the living organism: response to stimuli, inevitable growth (environmental conditions notwithstanding), reproduction (mating conditions notwithstanding, in the case of sexual reproduction), &c.

The human being has these characteristics at the moment of conception. Once the two parent sex cells, the sperm and the egg, are joined, the inevitable process of development begins, whereby the new organism will eventually develop all of the typical characteristics of adults of its species (the earliest ones being, e.g., a beating heart, hiccups, startle responses (all at 7 weeks)), as well as those which individuate it as a unique member of the species (e.g. red hair (determined at once with DNA), weak lungs, or green eyes).

This process is the result of, and testament to, homeostasis and contiguity in the organism from the moment of conception.

Back to the video: at the 4:30 mark we already observed a person that you or I would not presume to kill.

Why, then, are we permitted to kill the one at the 0:50 mark? Why is this organism at one point in its development certainly considered one of the "men" who "are endowed by their creator with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," while at another point in its development it is not considered one?

At what point does he become a person?

When he is born?

What about when his toes is still in his mother? Can I kill the baby then? (Senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) asked Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Ca.) eleven years ago on the Senate floor)

While we're at it, let's review a little bit of that heated conversation on the Senate floor that October 20:

Mrs. BOXER. I don’t believe in kill- ing any human being. That is abso- lutely correct. Nor do you, I am sure.

Mr. SANTORUM. So you would ac- cept the fact that once the baby is sep- arated from the mother, that baby can- not be killed?

Mrs. BOXER. I support the right— and I will repeat this, again, because I saw you ask the same question to an- other Senator.

Mr. SANTORUM. All the Senator has to do is give me a straight answer.

Mrs. BOXER. Define ‘‘separation.’’ You answer that question.

Mr. SANTORUM. Let’s define that. Let’s say the baby is completely sepa- rated; in other words, no part of the baby is inside the mother.

Mrs. BOXER. You mean the baby has been birthed and is now in the mother’s arms? It is a human being? It takes a second, it takes a minute——

Mr. SANTORUM. Say it is in the ob- stetrician’s hands.

Mrs. BOXER. I had two babies, and within seconds of them being born——

Mr. SANTORUM. We had six. Mrs. BOXER. You didn’t have any. Mr. SANTORUM. My wife and I did.

We do things together in my family. Mrs. BOXER. Your wife gave birth. I gave birth. I can tell you, I know when

the baby was born. Mr. SANTORUM. Good. All I am ask-

ing you is, once the baby leaves the mother’s birth canal and is through the vaginal orifice and is in the hands of the obstetrician, you would agree you cannot then abort the baby?

Mrs. BOXER. I would say when the baby is born, the baby is born and would then have every right of every other human being living in this coun- try, and I don’t know why this would even be a question.

Mr. SANTORUM. Because we are talking about a situation here where the baby is almost born. So I ask the question of the Senator from Cali- fornia, if the baby was born except for the baby’s foot, if the baby’s foot was inside the mother but the rest of the baby was outside, could that baby be killed? (-ibid.)

What about when only his head is out? (Disclaimer: this link NOT rated R)

What about before labor begins?

How long before labor begins?

When does this biological organism, homo sapiens or commonly "a human being", receive from the American People the rights attributed to him by their founding documents?