.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (May 14, 2010 / 14:16 CST)

“Sperm and egg cells in themselves are not complete. If left alone they will die after a few days, never developing into anything other than what they are.”

Though I’m sympathetic to the cause, bad logic is still bad logic. We need a more compelling argument than that, as the faultiness of it is readily evident:

By itself, a fertilized egg will not develop into anything other than what it is. Or is “leaving alone” supposed to convey non-intervention? Because it is by not interfering after leaving sperm “alone” (“alone” in the same sense a fertilized ovum in a female’s body can be said to be “alone”) where it can fertilize an ovum (or, if you prefer, leaving an ovum “alone” with sperm) that it develops.