Huzoor(ra): The life starts with the contact of sperm, the life starts with the contact of sperm with the ovum. But it has two phases. One, the dependent life, and the other, the independent life. The dependent life starts with the contact of sperm with the ovum and it continues as such, until the time, when the child is ready to be given birth, and lead an independent existence. That time varies from individual to individual.
Sometimes a premature birth as early as six months, survives. Sometimes a premature birth of the seventh month does not survive. And of the eighth, there is very little policy or possibility at all. Even it endangers the mother’s life. The life, having grown, then ebbs out, it seems. And it is at the lowest ebb in the eighth month. So in this situation, the answer, if the people, the debate is to decide whether independent life starts with the ovum, my answer would be no.
The first time you can call a baby ‘alive’ in the sense that he can lead an independent life is the earliest in the sixth month. But there is a very remote possibility of a baby surviving at that period. So you cannot generalize there either. You’ll have to decide from individual to individual. Then in the seventh month, there is a very reasonable possibility of survival. So that you should call, consider, because it is overwhelmingly in favor of survival. You can say the seventh month is the representative month for life of the baby as far as independence is concerned. And the ninth month is without doubt a time where the baby is fully grown and is capable of survival independently. But the eighth should be counted out medically speaking. Because, I doubt if there is any baby born in the eighth month who survives even though he takes away the mother along with him. But occasionally perhaps they do. But in majority of cases, we can say safely, that’s not the time.
