Embryo definition
In the news, we keep hearing this term "embryo". I have always been a great supporter of using proper terminology, appropriate to the area of study in which we were using the term (i.e. legal definitions when we are talking about law, medical definitions when we are talking about medicine).
So, when you hear the term "embryo"...do you KNOW what that means?
Here's a definition from
http://www.biochem.northwestern.edu/holmgren/Glossary/Definitions/Def-E/embryo.html .
"
"General: an organism in early stages of development, before hatching from an egg.
Human: A fertilized egg that has begun cell division, often called a pre-embryo (for pre-implantation embryo). An embryo is now defined as a later stage, i.e. at the completion of" the pre-embryonic stage, which is considered to end at about day 14. The term, embryo, is used to describe the early stages of fetal growth, from conception to the eighth week of pregnancy. "
So, under this definition, it is the product of conception AFTER day 14, or two weeks. It is the early stage of gestation, from conception to the eigth week...or about two months. But, is there a better term we can use?
A better word for the intrauterine entity from fertilization to birth, is "conceptus".
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/conceptus
"con·cep·tus (kn-spts)
n.
The product of conception at any point between fertilization and birth. It includes the embryo or the fetus as well as the extraembryonic membranes."
There indeed may well be individuals who oppose destruction of human life, however; I happen to think that most are just partisan idiots who are entralled in the pseudo-Christian theocratic agenda of imposing a fundamentalist mentality on the population in general, by implementing bizarre, fundamentalist, Neo-Con beliefs on the body politic by fiat.
IDIOTS!