Well, as for what is obvious:

Embryos typically look like this:





Obviously, a person doesn't look that way. If he or she did, I'd be terrified. Let's face it, embryos are ugly little things, lol.

As for the less obvious, our entire body system is fully developed and working together, unlike with an embryo. Embryos don't even have organ systems, they have elementary beginnings of a few important ones. They have no senses at all.

Not to mention frontal lobe activity; that part of the brain that control emotions; isn't even a microscopic dot yet. There is no 'person' or 'feeling' there.

Some pro-lifers, actually most from the ones I meet, believe that a fertilized egg is a person, which is even before the embryo.

Some even go so far as to claim sperm and eggs are people.

the only difference between the embryo and the born person is that one is more developed than the other. Pretty simple.

Though I know some folks that I think their brains never developed hehe

Simply put...anything a person can do, an embryo cannot do. The only thing they have in common is they both exist, and nothing else. Embryos cannot think, breathe, see, talk, hear, feel, taste, touch, smell, and so forth. I mean what do you expect from a cell?

Embryos have the potential to become people, but that's all they have going for them. Some embryos get flushed out of the body with the monthly cycle, some implant and then die, and some die nine months after implantation and hysterical Mommy takes pictures of the cadaver and posts them on her blog with the title of "My little angel-snookums"

But if you're brain-dead like most pro-lifers, you will probably believe that an embryo is actually a fully-formed infant with all bodily systems and outer features completely intact and the appearance doesn't change, but the "baby" just grows. So, pro-lifers kind of think of embryos as sponges...they don't really change much in color, but they just grow (and if you've ever seen a newborn, you'll know what I mean - they look like godawful ugly hairless rats). I pray you aren't that dense because we already have too many stupid people on this forum.

"Why"? Why is not a good question...
"Why" there is a difference is obvious when you begin looking at how a fully developed baby and a zygote/embryo/fetus are different.

How are they different?
1. Physically:
As many people have already stated, a baby has all of its internal organs developed and functioning together. When discussing the unborn in reference to abortion, a 6-12 week embryo/fetus does NOT have all of its organs in working order.
~The lungs are completely useless at this stage.
~I believe the stomach is undeveloped, and reproductive organs are indistinguishable between male or female.
~Depending on the stage, the eyes are primitive and eyelids have not developed. At other stages the eyes are sealed shut by the eyelids, which finally split open later on.
~At early enough stages, the embryo has primitive gill flaps, but no larynx or mid-throat apparatuses. The gill flaps develop into these organs but not right away.
~At certain points the embryo has a tail too.
~The embryo/fetus only has a two-chambered heart initially, just like amphibians. Though it beats as early as week 9, it is not a proper human heart yet. Sealing of the heart into four chambers and connecting to the lungs via the aorta actually happens right after birth! It's an amazing transformation that takes place in mere seconds: The umbilical cord is cut, the heart seals up, and the blood-flow inside the baby's chest re-routes to oxygenate the blood using the lungs.

All of these differences make an embryo/fetus very, very different from a born human baby.

2. Brain/Nervous System Differences:
I put this separately because it's such an important distinction.
~The embryo/fetus does not have a fully developed brain. It is neither the correct size, nor is it connected right. The brain forms out of the spine, forming the basic brain-stem sections first. The brain-stem sections are responsible for basic life functions.
~Then slowly over the rest of the pregnancy the rest of the brain forms; but at early stages it is not developed enough to think, comprehend, or even feel pain.
~The embryo/fetus begins recoiling from uterine intruders such as light scopes and abortion instruments; however this is a nervous-system reaction that all base forms of life have, including bugs. It doesn't mean it feels pain.
~In fact, it can't feel pain. The brain isn't developed enough to process that kind of input, AND the nerves of the body have not connected to the brain.

I hope this has been helpful to you in understanding some of the obvious differences between an embryo/fetus at 6-12 weeks, and a born baby.

I quite agree.

I wonder how old amanda1691 is. I hope she's not a future teen mother.

i think what they mean is that for every egg and ever sperm there is an individual . hence a person an individual.

I believe a Person needs to be separate from the mother's body. It needs to be able to survive as a separate being too. If it cannot, then it is not a person. Moderate medical intervention is fine; as in the case of preemies. But if medical help cannot save it, then it is not a Person. So 12 week fetus? Not a person upon removal from the mother, even if it's whole and "alive" for a few minutes. 27 week fetus? Person (once removed). Survival is possible with medical intervention. A fetus is not a Person until it is removed from the mother's body AND is capable of survival (with medical care if needed). Until then, it is not and individual, as it is not independent.

This is ONLY in reference to the unborn.

an embryo is a person at a certain stage of life, your question is akin to asking

what is the differences between an 8 year old and a person?

clearly both are persons, one is an 8 year old person and the other is perhaps a adult person, an adolesent person, an old age person or whatever, an embryo is an embryonic person.

What? An EMBRYO is never a Person as an embryo can never survive outside of a woman's body. The unborn stops being an embryo at week 10. Even then, the now-fetus could not survive outside the womb even with care, and so it is not independent nor is it a Person.

Is that more clear?

An 8 year old could be cared for by anyone; his body is not literally attached to his mother. He can survive in the outside world outside of the womb. He can breath and eat.

Please for the love of God; I specified the Uborn because I KNEW you would try to compare a fetus to a born child; and there is NO comparison.

Guest please stop using Scott Klusendorf guide to debating abortion; countrary to his rules trotting out a toddler (or other age child) is not effective.

TODDLER TACTICS

By Scott Klusendorf

Use “Trot out the Toddler” to simplify the abortion issue for those who think its complex. It’s easy to use and frames the argument around the one question that really matters, “What is the unborn?”
Source

As amusing as that guide is to read it actually is not effective as he thinks it is and it's main point is to get the debate off topic.

Eiri has a good point about survivability out of the uterus. Yes we have a few and far between 'miracles' of fetii born between 19 - 22 weeks that survive with extreme medical intervention but this is not a common occurance and I'd think you'd want to base your arguement in factual medical evidence which does not support a fetus or embryo being a person as it is still developementally unable to survive without the placenta.

That's a terrible way to debate!!! It's basically telling pro-lifers to constantly take the argument away from what it's about and force the pro-choicer to discuss something completely unrelated; no wonder I'm so frustrated all the time!!!

By the way the opening paragraphs of that argument don't apply to the pro-choicers here anyway, since we have multiple times defended our non-Person view of the unborn with piles and piles of scientific evidence (which the article claims "we" never do).

I found it when someone from another board was using that tactic and I googled it and lo' there was the whole website. He has since slunk away to the unknown world of PLA (Whose site even I don't brave often).
It does lay out the enemy battle plan rather nicely though.

Sperm and eggs are people.

The pro-life(anti-choice) side is filled with disingenuous people. And that is putting it mildly.



Good job.

The pro-life(anti-choice) side is filled with disingenuous people. And that is putting it mildly.

I'm sure pro-lifers would say the same about pro-choicers,, it doesn't make either side RIGHT!

Except that pro-choicers don't lie and don't try to "emotionalize" the argument. We certainly don't "trot out the tot"! We don't have underhanded practices like that. We don't tell each other how to debate.