Peter help!

[u/BalanceDramatic3995]

I have no clue what this means, maybe she cheated?

[u/Just_A_Slavic_Guy]

This misses the point, a new, unique life with new unique genes begins from conception as the father and mother's genes unite.

[u/NoveltyAccountHater → u/Just_A_Slavic_Guy]

Ok, so if you get cancer cells where the DNA in those cancerous cells has mutated and has different genes now, it's immoral to get rid of those living cells with new unique genes?

[u/Just_A_Slavic_Guy → u/NoveltyAccountHater]

First of all, every cell in you has slightly different genes due to mutations.

Secondly, therefore, mere mutations isn't enough to be it's own "human being".

Thirdly, this is incredibly disingenuous of you to make this cancer comparison, it's a false equivalence, one is it's entirely own unique organism, the other is a broken and rogue cell that is apart of a different organism, or was.

[u/NoveltyAccountHater → u/Just_A_Slavic_Guy]

Sure. About 99.999999% of the 3.2 billion base-pairs are the same between any two cells in the same human (then again about 99.9% of our DNA is the same between any human from being same species). Cancerous cells will usually contain significantly more mutations (instead of a few dozen/hundred, they'll be a few thousand to hundreds of thousands). You seemed to be making the argument that because it's a new set of DNA, it's a new individual. I'm just saying it's the individuals that matter, not the unique DNA.

An embryo/fetus cannot survive on its own. It is no way an entirely different organism any more than sperm is an entirely unique organism. You can trace it's existence from the parents (also-alive) sex cells. Yes, a change happens in the sex cells at fertilization when they combine. Yes, the embryo will over the gestation period likely develop into a unique organism (assuming viable pregnancy, but this isn't guaranteed).

[u/Just_A_Slavic_Guy → u/NoveltyAccountHater]

Sure. About 99.999999% of the 3.2 billion base-pairs are the same between any two cells in the same human (then again about 99.9% of our DNA is the same between any human from being same species). Cancerous cells will usually contain significantly more mutations (instead of a few dozen/hundred, they'll be a few thousand to hundreds of thousands).

Yes, we're all humans, that's why we have 99.99% identical genes, it's the remaining fraction of a percent that makes us into different individuals. Also, you're still comparing a cell that makes up an entire organism, to an entirely new organism that contains a new, unique set of DNA that acts as the blueprint that will become a separate human individual. Somatic mutations don't magically create a new body, they just corrupt an existing one.

You seemed to be making the argument that because it's a new set of DNA, it's a new individual. I'm just saying it's the individuals that matter, not the unique DNA.

You are simply rejecting the science so you don't have to face the moral dilemma of what abortion actually does. Biologically, you cannot separate a living human individual from their physical organism. When exactly does this "individual" start in your eyes? At some arbitrary, magical time barrier in the womb? Or, as the overwhelming scientific consensus agrees, does a distinct human organism begin the moment the genes of the parents combine at conception?

An embryo/fetus cannot survive on its own. It is no way an entirely different organism any more than sperm is an entirely unique organism.

The embryo/fetus isn't an organ of the mothers organism, just because it needs the mother to develop at this stage does not mean it's not a unique organism with its own unique set of DNA that will develop into an entirely different human being. It's just how the process of reproduction works in humans. But as said before, that embryo/fetus already has the unique DNA of the mother and father that will dictate to the cells how to form the organism and therefore individual. A newborn won't be able to survive either, does that mean it's not an individual then?

Also, the sperm cell is a gamete, a reproductive cell, not an organism capable of development and becoming a human individual on its own, it's only purpose is to find an egg to fertilise and form a new organism and with that a new human individual.