Life is Not in Petri Dish, but in Womb

If a heart is beating 23 days after conception and a brain is forming 21 to 24 days in, and, if we judge a person to be dead if his heart stops beating, why would we have a different take on whether an unborn child is a living being if he or she has a beating heart?

So I asked in a Facebook post.

Scott Peterson fired back a good answer:

"One of my favorite points that pro-lifers make is the 'beating heart' premise.
*Individual* cardiac muscle cells beat. I've seen it in a petri dish with my own two eyes. Doesn't mean that the cell can function in any way on its own."

I think Scott has a valid point. I am partially persuaded. But, it should not be overlooked that the beating heart, in the unborn, is yet within the unborn's body. Comparing apples to apples, that seems of note.

And, I wonder but what, if the little heart were to quit beating while within the womb, there wouldn't be a miscarriage. If so, that would indicate the beating heart in the unborn is not to be equated with a heart still beating in a petri dish, but to be equated with one that stops beating resulting in death.

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