Is Fetus a Human Being?

A human being is an individual who is alive. While he/she may not be capable of survival on his/her own, for example being disabled or being too young, it is undoubtly a physically living individual whose body is capable of sustaining life on its own.

A human fetus survives only because of the mother. Even at the end of the 2nd Trimester(26th Week), a fetus cannot survive out of its mother's womb. It is still 100% reliant on it's mother's body for food and for survival for its bodily processes. While people may argue that human beings can be completely dependent on other humans or machines for sustenance of life, there is a difference as the human fetus is dependent exclusively on a selected person, and no one can be hired to do that job on behalf of that person. A human baby may be looked after by a baby sitter but a mother cannot employ another mother to nurture her baby on her behalf.

Another big difference is that the human fetus depends on the woman's body for survival, and resides inside her body. A human fetus is only a human being once it has an existence separate and independent of its mother. This only happens when the child is fully extruded from the mother's body and is living by virtue of the functioning of its own organs.

Thus, as human fetus is reliant on it's mother for bodily functions and survival, and as it lives within another human and not as an individual physically, it is not a human being.