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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
A human zygote is a human being in its earliest stage of development on the continuum of human development.

Human development is a continuous process. At each stage- it’s a human.[/quote]

You've wholly crossed into the realm of philosophy, not science.  The "being" part of "human being" refers to self-awareness, sentience, or "soul".  The placenta, that is normally tossed in the trash after birth, is just as human as the living baby, but no one would argue that it is sentient.  Most parents are only vaguely even aware of it.  At the same time, we frequently extend protections to other species that demonstrate higher levels of sentience; we find practices such as eating dogs to be abhorrent.  The philosophical question becomes, at what point does a human embryo or fetus become self-aware?  Scientists have posited that the ability to sense pain can be used as an early gauge, hence the endeavors to establish what the point is.  Interestingly, we've also found that before birth, a fetus lives in a sleep-like state with lowered responsiveness to stimulation.  This is one reason why many believe it is more merciful for a fetus to die in the womb rather than after birth when they have deformities incompatible with life.

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