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A comment on Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to describe abortion bans. Parent comment

Re:Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to desc... by gtf21 on Friday June 07, 2019 @12:51PM (#20126499)
Inasmuch as a the millions of sperm/eggs that don't make it is a human being, it doesn't really have any human characteristics yet.
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Re:Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to desc... by sparrish on Friday June 07, 2019 @01:07PM (#20126646)
That's just not true. The science is very clear on that.

"Weeks 6 to 7

Arm and leg buds start to grow. Your baby's brain forms into 5 different areas. Some cranial nerves are visible. Eyes and ears begin to form. Tissue grows that will become your baby's spine and other bones. Baby's heart continues to grow and now beats at a regular rhythm. Blood pumps through the main vessels."

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002398.htm

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Re:Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to desc... by gtf21 on Wednesday June 12, 2019 @09:36AM (#20164418)
Ok, that's fair. I was being a little hyperbolic with "it doesn't have any human characteristics yet", which is obviously untrue.

I think the point still stands that at some point you draw an arbitrary line of when mere potential for human life becomes human life, and I wouldn't draw that line early on in the embryo stage.

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Re:Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to desc... by andrenth on Saturday June 08, 2019 @08:00PM (#20136037)
It’s mind-blowing that this comment is flagged.

HN is not afraid to go anti-science when doing so fits the preferred narrative.

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Re:Why the Guardian is changing the language it uses to desc... by bryanlarsen on Monday June 10, 2019 @09:23AM (#20146472)
> Baby's heart continues to grow and now beats at a regular rhythm. Blood pumps through the main vessels.

This implies that the heart is pumping the blood; yet I believe that at this point it's still the mother's heart doing the pumping. The author is likely fully aware that readers will be making incorrect assumptions; therefore it should be downvoted to oblivion.

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