It may be a little while ago now but I can still remember perfectly clearly. New life began when a sperm penetrated an ovum. This was called fertilization. It was also called conception. In terms of human reproduction, a new individual, another little person, had been conceived. All the DNA required to direct the development of this new little being was present in that fertilized ovum, and already the process of cell division was taking place. Its conception had occurred.

But my High School days were some time ago, and the most certain things in life are not just taxes and death but also the fact that things change. Language, or the use of language - the meanings of words - also undergo change.

The word conception these days has been divorced from the event of fertilization and is now used in conjunction with the event of implantation. A new life is not considered conceived until the fertilized ovum, by then a clump of cells (called a blastocyst) following its numerous cell divisions, has become successfully implanted in the uterine wall. Conception is said to occur upon implantation, not upon fertilization. This change in definition has become so commonplace that it is now reflected in standard medical reference books such as OB & GYN Terminology (E. Hughes, ed., Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1972):

Conception is the implantation of the blastocyst. It is not synonymous with fertilization.

This is the new meaning of the word, the way it is to be used these days - not as I was taught in High School biology.

So when does pregnancy begin? The Planned Parenthood Federation of America offers an answer:

Medical and scientific experts agree that pregnancy begins with implantation. It happens several days after fertilization when the developing pre-embryo is implanted in the wall of the uterus. Implantation begins the release of hormones that are necessary to support a pregnancy.

In short, a woman is not pregnant until the developing pre-embryo is attached to her and gets nutrients from her. For example, a fertilized egg in a petri dish does not represent a pregnancy.

(Reference: How Pregnancy Happens)

Well, we know that saying a petri dish is pregnant is rather silly. But when this event occurs within a woman, not a petri dish, then that distinction of language is hardly necessary. Or is it?

If a woman is not pregnant, then she cannot miscarry nor have an abortion. If a fertilized ovum is not a newly conceived individual, a new life, then there can be no moral implications in making certain no implantation will occur. Birth control measures that prevent implantation can be regarded as no different in this respect than those that prevent fertilization in the first place. All are bundled together under the term contraception and no distinction between them is considered necessary. If a blastocyst or “pre-embryo” (don’t these technical terms help us to de-humanize nicely?) is deliberately deprived of the requirements to continue its life and development, then contraception can euphemistically be said to have taken place. It is a far more comfortable and forgiving word than abortion.

Unique DNA is considered the determination of a specific individual. The DNA of all individuals is proven to be set at fertilization, not at implantation which is just one of many stages of human development. Choosing implantation as the stage at which conception occurs (and thus new life begins) is indeed arbitary. Why choose implantation and not some other stage? Why especially when fertilization is the point at which one’s unique DNA is set? In the past the first movements felt by the expectant mother, the quickening, have been considered the beginning of life. We count a person’s age, their length of life, from their date of birth, not that of any pre-born stage - but clearly life had begun much sooner than that. The fallacy of arguing for implantation as the beginning of life is that any stage of development can then be chosen to redefine this occurrence. It becomes a matter of personal opinion, open to any interpretation, justified however one chooses (e.g. the irrationality of a pregnant petri dish) and moral codes can be overwritten by the political agendas of various lobby groups and governments. It seems they already have!

The stark and unrelenting truth is covered up by this clever shift in language. As I know it, my son was conceived the instant that an ovum of mine was fertilized by one of my husband’s sperm. It didn’t happen in a petri dish so I am quite happy to be considered pregnant right from the time the tiny fertilized ovum he was came tumbling down my fallopian tube. He had come into being even when I was not aware that he had. There was no time between fertilization and implantation that he wasn’t alive and growing. The conditions for his survival needed modification all the time, and while implantation was an obviously essential one, it hadn’t been required during those first few days when he would have been labelled a “pre-embryo” and yet those cells were most definitely alive. Essential too was continuing placental proficiency, and protection from all kinds of potential harm.

Language can play clever tricks. Meanings of words can be changed to provide spin, to distort or mask particular ideas, but none of those changes can alter the truth - the absolute truth that is absolute reality no matter what.