The Science of When Human Life Begins (with Dr. Maureen Condic)

Clinton and Nathan interview Dr. Maureen Condic, a neurobiologist who teaches at University of Utah, about human development, including some of the objections abortion-choice advocates occasionally raise against the science of embryology.

Some of the objections discussed in this episode:

-Human life doesn't begin until the brain is sufficiently developed.

-Some embryos have the capacity to twin or recombine, so we can't say an individual human life begins before that point.

-Human life doesn't begin at fertilization, it began thousands of years ago. So life is continuous.

Be sure to check out this book by Dr. Condic, mentioned in the podcast:

Human Embryos, Human Beings: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach (with Samuel B. Condic)