Carnegie Institute: "Egg" Term is Unscientific

According to the Carnegie Institute, the term "egg" has "no scientific usefulness" regarding early human development.

Washington D.C.'s National Museum of Health and Medicine established in 1862 houses 24 million specimens including in its Human Development Anatomy Center. NMHM publishes the Carnegie Institute's authoritative Carnegie Stages of Early Human Development for sexual reproduction (i.e., from fertilization) which has become the international standard for vertebrate embryonic development. Deceased human embryos were collected from around the world, beginning with those from the hospital at John Hopkins University. Sexual reproduction begins with Carnegie Stage 1:

Embryonic life commences with fertilization… when a spermatozoon makes contact with an oocyte… and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes… The three phases… will be included here under stage 1, the characteristic feature of which is unicellularity… The term "egg" is best reserved for... the breakfast table.

Carnegie Stage 1 identifies terms, like "egg," which have "no scientific usefulness." Yet, for example, Secretary of State Jerry Brown published wording on California's official 2010 personhood petition stating that the term person would be defined, "to include fertilized human eggs." Aside from the term egg being unscientific, a "fertilized egg" is itself a contradiction, for after conception, it ceases to be an "egg" and becomes something new - a distinct, living human organism separate from mom. Eggs don't have Y-chromosomes. Half the time the single-celled child is a boy, and his masculine genome cannot be part of the mother's body, and whether boy or girl, that new human being is often programmed for a different blood type.

See also ARTL's article on:
The Beginning of Biological Development

NBC's Denver affiliate 9News is even more embarrassing for its ignorance of basic biology demonstrated by its use of the term "fertilized embryo." 9News reported on Feb. 12, 2010 that Colorado's personhood amendment, "would change the definition of humans in the state constitution to include fertilized embryos." A fertilized embryo? Is that really what they meant to say? To millions of Americans abortion is the most contested issue in the country, and yet the liberal media can't even get the basic terminology correct. (If Mark Cornetta, the general manager at 9News, gets this corrected ARTL will update this report yet as of their Nov. 7, 2011 broadcast 9News continues to be unscientific and dismissive of the wonder and sanctity of the beginning of the new child's life by referring to it as a "fertilized egg.")

Don't call Dred Scott a fertilized egg. Confusing an egg with an organism is inexcusable. RH Reality Check allowed this headline, "Anti-Abortion Activists Push New, More Radical Egg-As-Person Measures." Those who argue against unborn children, and advocate killing them, exploit such ignorance.

In war, terms like japs and gooks dehumanize the enemy. Only since the 2008 launch of the personhood movement in Colorado have abortionists stopped using the euphemism POC (products of conception), since they are now afraid to admit that their enemy, the embryo, comes into existence at conception. Similarly, the abortion industry today even fears the term mother, and now avoids even the phrase, "life of the mother," using instead, "life of the woman," even though in such a tragedy that woman loves and wants her child and likely would be insulted if others hesitated to call her a mom.

Abortionists even call the tiniest boys and girls tissue, to further dehumanize the "unwanted" child. "Abortionists refer to the fetus as a mass of cells," said Lolita Hanks, nurse practitioner and spokeswoman for American RTL. "They even refer to the baby as a tumor, in attempts to dehumanize, but I've never met anyone who has taken their tumor home from the hospital." The U.S. Supreme Court referred to black slave Dred Scott as chattel and likewise, those who are "pro-choice" speak of "fertilized eggs" only to dehumanize kids. But abortionist George Tiller's murder was not merely a very late-term abortion and Dred Scott was not a very old fertilized egg.

The essential truth of personhood exposes the lies. The resurgent personhood movement is seeing that abortionists will become more hesitant to use terms like POC. For while establishing personhood has no effect on contraceptives that only prevent fertilization, personhood will prohibit any chemical abortifacient that kills the tiniest boys and girls. So when Planned Parenthood says that personhood would outlaw contraceptives, they are either lying now, or they were lying then, for the abortion industry assured women for decades that abortifacients did not kill a living embryo. As a school nurse once told a student, "If it's not a baby, you're not pregnant." A woman should know whether or not a chemical would abort her child. And it is a child, both after and before his fingers develop, her heart begins beating, and from the earliest stages of development, for the whole logically precedes his parts and members. Personhood educates, helps to end these lies, and the killing. Thus, as stated in the Carnegie Stages, "The term “egg” is best reserved for a nutritive object frequently seen on the breakfast table."

Please see also our Beginning of Biological Development article, the Many Pro-aborts Say Amino Acid is Life, Embryo is Not, and the stunning ARTL Exceptions page. And remember, we are the makers of the world's largest protest sign against Barack Obama and the Democrats for destroying unborn children. And finally, if you'd like a 40-year pro-life education in 40 days, in less than one hour per day, then American Right To Life will keep track of your progress! To begin, just click on Get a 40-Year RTL Education!

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