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Originally Posted by ForceoftheTruth";p="
What are human thoughts but more complex combinations of the "chaotic excitations" to which the site refers? An unborn baby doesn't suddenly transform into a thinking being. It is a gradual process and it starts at conception.
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The process may start at conception, but until there's a forebrain there can be no consciousness. We allow "brain dead" adults to be removed from life support. Mere brain stem activity does not constitute personhood.
You can be dogmatic about it and insist that life and consciousness begin at conception. From a purely philosophical point of view, you can build such a case. But as a matter of science you would be incorrect, and as a matter of public policy all you do with a stance like that is guarantee eternal war and argument on this topic.
If you truly want to settle the abortion question, then both sides need to compromise. Pro-lifers have to agree that, even if they believe life begins at conception, there are competing concerns and a more widely accepted dividing line needs to be found. Pro-choicers have to agree that, the more developed the fetus, the more rights it has and at some point the fetus' rights outweigh those of the mother, all other things being equal.
I think viability or consciousness both present defensible rationales for drawing that line. Happily they seem to settle in roughly the same place, gestationwise.