title: When does human life begin?
abstract: Causation theory is applied to the question of the point at which human life begins. It is concluded that the potential human being becomes actualized through the cessation of an exclusive in-utero dependency upon the material, formal, and efficient causes of its being, and the beginning of a nonexclusive ex-utero dependency upon nurturing and care-giving sources.
mesh_terms: D000028:Abortion, Induced / Q000523:psychology*; D033421:Beginning of Human Life; D002657:Child Development; D036861:Delivery, Obstetric; D005260:Female; D005306:Fertilization; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019369:Life; D028723:Personhood; D011247:Pregnancy