How do you convince those who do not believe life begins at conception?

[Jennifer123]

Well see a spontanious abortion is when a fertalized egg, is NOT able to implant. .

There is no such thing as a fertilized egg. It is unscientific and wholly a part of the culture of death to dehumanize the baby. You may want to believe life begins at implantation, but it just doesn’t.

Makers of contraception, PP, and many scientists want us to believe this as well, so as to avoid the whole messy situation of the pill being an abortifacient and the ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, but don’t be fooled.

I will pray for you.

 

[hugh_miller]

I’m afraid your confusing me. What does human life mean? Define it. How is it different from the term life?

It is called a life cycle, because other than at abiogenesis it is a never ending cycle.

I’m sorry but there is no culture of death. We just use words to define things to help us understand concepts and relate concepts to one another.

I think that the following two letters to the editor of a local newspaper with regards the community organizer who is now president should help all understand when life begins and what life if all about. It is our duty to restore the right to life of all humanity and to purge the culture of death that is spreading world wide.

(1) Obama should rethink reversal of policy

Friday, January 30, 2009

In President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech, he said, memorably, “For those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

He said previously that determining the start of human life “is beyond my pay grade.” It’s not beyond the pay scale of every biologist and geneticist, who would tell him, had he but asked, that human life begins at conception, not birth.

Birth is a change of environment for the baby, not of type or species. The DNA of the parents guarantees that the baby will not be a mouse or elephant, but human from fertilization.
This fact is not an arcane area requiring specialization in medicine but actually quite common knowledge and in high-school biology textbooks, as well.

Obama reversed the “Mexico City policy” on Jan. 23; this reversal will support organizations that promote and perform abortions in other countries.

But supporting abortion abroad is exactly what the policy reversal will promote and produce: the slaughtering of innocents and perversion for profit for abortion chambers worldwide.

Thus, everyone should write the president and ask that he avoid promoting pro-abortion initiatives until he can explain to the American people how his contradiction on “slaughtering innocents” can possibly make sense.

(2) Abortion decision isn’t family matter

Friday, January 30, 2009

President Barack Obama says that the Roe vs. Wade decision protects women’s health and reproductive freedom but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.

Obama, the family is no place to hide violence against another human being.

At one time, a man believed he had the right to beat his wife and children and perhaps abuse them sexually because they were “his” and the government had no business in private family matters.

Now society will act when violence or neglect within the family are made known. We need to help the world see the violence of abortion, to help mothers find alternative solutions or, better, to help women understand that they have control of their bodies and fertility before they become pregnant.

Abortion is violence perpetrated by one adult human on a developing one.

Comment: I particularly like the comment from the first letter, "

Comments: The telling sentence in the first letter is: “The DNA of the parents guarantees that the baby will not be a mouse or elephant, but human from fertilization.” That phrase suggests that all life was intellignetly designed using DNA. But of course under an Obama adm. as he wrote in Nature Magazine, will not be discussed in the science classroom if he becomes president.

My conclusion is that we are indeed living in a “cultural of death” and the leader of the abortion mafia in the United States is the president of the United States who has never produced a valid birth certificate as required by the constitution. He and his fellow mafia members such as Biden, Pelosi, the Clintons ad nauseum will most certainly agree with the request for over $3 billion dollars in funds to promote abortion on demand world-wide under the guise of “Reproductive Freedom” as a 55 page document is purported to request. We thus have an administration that is leading what might be called Jihad against the unborn.

 

[remjsmom76]

If you want to believe that. Scientifically it gets fertilized when its traveling in the fallopian tubes, then it floats down to the uterus. It can also get fertilized in the womb but by the time it reaches the uterus…well its so far along in the menstrual cycle it might be un-impenetrable by the sperm. When I say fertilized, I mean the egg has been penetrated by the sperm. So yes, there is such a thing as a fertilized egg…how else will it start to split into a cluster of cells. Ive taken human anatomy, as part of my nursing courses. I’M sure they are teaching correctly not falsely

There is no such thing as a fertilized egg. It is unscientific and wholly a part of the culture of death to dehumanize the baby. You may want to believe life begins at implantation, but it just doesn’t.

Makers of contraception, PP, and many scientists want us to believe this as well, so as to avoid the whole messy situation of the pill being an abortifacient and the ethics of Embryonic Stem Cell Research, but don’t be fooled.

I will pray for you.

 

[mlchance]

When I say fertilized, I mean the egg has been penetrated by the sperm. So yes, there is such a thing as a fertilized egg…how else will it start to split into a cluster of cells.

Sounds reasonable. And, to remain reasonable, we must also admit that the fertilized egg which has started “to split into a cluster of cells” is alive even prior to implantation in the uterus.

As to errors of yours, there are these:
remj(name removed by moderator):

I dont think a free floating cell is alive…

Well see a spontanious abortion is when a fertalized egg, is NOT able to implant.

A cell, even a free-floating one, is alive if it is carrying on the biological functions of life. This applies even to a fertilized egg. Also, a spontaneous abortion (read: miscarriage) is not only the result of a fertilized egg’s failure to implant in the uterus. A miscarriage can happen throughout pregnancy, as me, my wife, and any number of other people can readily testify.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[remjsmom76]

Yes and so can a lot of my friends. However a spontaneous abortion is still a fertilized egg not being able to implant into the womb (but not limited to just that, I know and understand this)

Sure cells are alive…my skin cells are alive and so are the cells that make up all of my body matter…however they still need nourishment from me. Without me, if they are chunked off and taken out they will die. They need my blood. Free floating cells do not have blood flow to them, an implanted fertalized egg does. Thats where I rationalized that YOU JUST DONT rip it out. Its NOT A CANCER, ITS NOT A TUMOR, it will develop, but only with the blood and nourishment from the mothers body. I have said in my previous posts that all fertilized eggs deserve the chance at implantation…just becaouse i say this, it still does not convince me that LIFE starts at conception. I do agree that the cluster of cells are alive, but they will not remain"alive" if not provided nourishment. That is where I draw my “opinion” and that is what it is my opinion…cause I may have scientific facts but still science can be wrong and it surely cant prove GOD wrong. I believe what I believe. A cluster of cells to me is no proof that life starts at conception. That cluster of cells MUST implant into the womb and THEN do I consider it a life. Only until then. Cause if we argue that life starts at conception…then there are a whole bunch of us women here and around the world who have suffered miscarriages or S.A’s without even knowing it.

GOD BLESS and I am sorry for your loss.

Sounds reasonable. And, to remain reasonable, we must also admit that the fertilized egg which has started “to split into a cluster of cells” is alive even prior to implantation in the uterus.Again I never implied that a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage was ONLY when a fertalized egg was NOT implanted…maybe I am not typing well or maybe people dont read well or maybe people read with closed minds…but I never said that SA or miscarriges ARE ONLY for fertalized eggs who were not able to implant. If you read my posts again and correctly you will see in one of them, I wrote I understood that it can happen at any moment. I know that. I know it can still happen at 2 weeks after implantation it can happen at 22 weeks…GOD forbid, but it is ONE way of SA.

As to errors of yours, there are these:

A cell, even a free-floating one, is alive if it is carrying on the biological functions of life. This applies even to a fertilized egg. Also, a spontaneous abortion (read: miscarriage) is not only the result of a fertilized egg’s failure to implant in the uterus. A miscarriage can happen throughout pregnancy, as me, my wife, and any number of other people can readily testify.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[The_Stig]

Why are all the people sporting that “coexist” graphic always such screwed up, unhappy souls?

Oh wait, it just came to me…

 

[thinker]

A cluster of cells to me is no proof that life starts at conception. That cluster of cells MUST implant into the womb and THEN do I consider it a life.

We disagree. I think this is wrong. Please see this:

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Donum vitae, I, 1: AAS 80 (1988), 79. says:
“Thus the fruit of human generation, from the first moment of its existence, that is to say, from the moment the zygote has formed, demands the unconditional respect that is morally due to the human being in his bodily and spiritual totality. The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life”.

I found this in a quotation in the recent document Instruction Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Questions here:
dioceseofraleigh.org/docs/respect_life/Dignitas-Personae_CDF-Instruction_12-12-08.pdf and here:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

the Instruction on respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation – Donum vitae
is at:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

 

[remjsmom76]

Yes I know all this, but it still does not waiver me to believe it as so. Oh and just so you know…NO…i do not take the holy eucharist for this very reason.

I mean, I do respect the possibility of life, I just dont believe that life starts the moment sperm and egg meet. If that is true, then I think I need to go mourn the loss of my lost children that could have been. Those cluster of cells are just that a cluster of free floating cells, IMHO, and ONCE it implants THEN its alive. You cant have cells live if it does not draw up nourishment. Yes the cluster needs the respect of being a possible future human being, I agree, but I STILL doe not think its a life…just yet.

You see that cluster of cells will just die, if it does not implant itself in the womb…It will just be flushed away. A lot of things can prevent that, stress and illness can prevent from implantation. So you can have a fertalized egg, but if a woman is really stressed or sick, and the body “feels” it cant handle a pregnancy, that “life” is flushed out, it will not be allowed by the body to take and implant itself. Again, so that is why I firmly believe life will not start until that cluster of cells is firmly attached to the womb. THE SECOND it attaches itself, THEN to me, it is a life, not before.

We disagree. I think this is wrong. Please see this:

CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Donum vitae, I, 1: AAS 80 (1988), 79. says:
“Thus the fruit of human generation, from the first moment of its existence, that is to say, from the moment the zygote has formed, demands the unconditional respect that is morally due to the human being in his bodily and spiritual totality. The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life”.

I found this in a quotation in the recent document Instruction Dignitas Personae on Certain Bioethical Questions here:
dioceseofraleigh.org/docs/respect_life/Dignitas-Personae_CDF-Instruction_12-12-08.pdf and here:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20081208_dignitas-personae_en.html

the Instruction on respect for human life in its origin and on the dignity of procreation – Donum vitae
is at:
vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19870222_respect-for-human-life_en.html

 

[RobbyS]

Yes I know all this, but it still does not waiver me to believe it as so. Oh and just so you know…NO…i do not take the holy eucharist for this very reason.

I mean, I do respect the possibility of life, I just dont believe that life starts the moment sperm and egg meet. If that is true, then I think I need to go mourn the loss of my lost children that could have been. Those cluster of cells are just that a cluster of free floating cells, IMHO, and ONCE it implants THEN its alive. You cant have cells live if it does not draw up nourishment. Yes the cluster needs the respect of being a possible future human being, I agree, but I STILL doe not think its a life…just yet.

You see that cluster of cells will just die, if it does not implant itself in the womb…It will just be flushed away. A lot of things can prevent that, stress and illness can prevent from implantation. So you can have a fertalized egg, but if a woman is really stressed or sick, and the body “feels” it cant handle a pregnancy, that “life” is flushed out, it will not be allowed by the body to take and implant itself. Again, so that is why I firmly believe life will not start until that cluster of cells is firmly attached to the womb. THE SECOND it attaches itself, THEN to me, it is a life, not before.

That begs the question. We know that life begins at conception by looking backward from the result. Am embryo will not inevitably implant just as a baby will not inevitably reach his first birthday. A hundred years ago, before modern medicine, a huge
franction of children borm failed to survive to their 7th month. Many others were si sickly that they died before the age of 10.

But we know in retrospect that you and I both began when
a sperm penetrated an ovum. The recation producedwithin seconds a human being that will live until it dies, be that after 10 seconds, 10 days, 10 months, 10 or a hundred years. And we know that physically it constantly changes from moment to moment, whether it has two and two nillion cells, and in accordance with the basic plan of its DNA as it struggles to cope with its environment, whether in the relatively welcoming womb, or in the cold cruel world into which it will be thrust in 40 weeks or less, and where it must have much help or it will die.

 

[remjsmom76]

I don’t understand what your question is, its late for me and I’m tired, but I can tell you this…I am glad that I WAS ABLE TO implant in my mothers womb…and not the egg before me…cause if that had happened I wouldn’t be here. Yes, I know I started out as a cluster of cells…and I got lucky I went through all stages…I was just one of the lucky ones…first that I took, I was able to implant in my mothers womb AND THAT my mother actually wanted me. She had been TTC for nearly 2 years, she had almost given up, when surprise…I came along. Again stress, prevented her from getting pregnant. She relaxed a bit and I was “invited” so to speak to move into my mothers womb.

That begs the question. We know that life begins at conception by looking backward from the result. Am embryo will not inevitably implant just as a baby will not inevitably reach his first birthday. A hundred years ago, before modern medicine, a huge
franction of children borm failed to survive to their 7th month. Many others were si sickly that they died before the age of 10.

But we know in retrospect that you and I both began when
a sperm penetrated an ovum. The recation producedwithin seconds a human being that will live until it dies, be that after 10 seconds, 10 days, 10 months, 10 or a hundred years. And we know that physically it constantly changes from moment to moment, whether it has two and two nillion cells, and in accordance with the basic plan of its DNA as it struggles to cope with its environment, whether in the relatively welcoming womb, or in the cold cruel world into which it will be thrust in 40 weeks or less, and where it must have much help or it will die.

 

[RobbyS]

I don’t understand what your question is, its late for me and I’m tired, but I can tell you this…I am glad that I WAS ABLE TO implant in my mothers womb…and not the egg before me…cause if that had happened I wouldn’t be here. Yes, I know I started out as a cluster of cells…and I got lucky I went through all stages…I was just one of the lucky ones…first that I took, I was able to implant in my mothers womb AND THAT my mother actually wanted me. She had been TTC for nearly 2 years, she had almost given up, when surprise…I came along. Again stress, prevented her from getting pregnant. She relaxed a bit and I was “invited” so to speak to move into my mothers womb.

Is the question about how you feel about being alive? You speak of luck. Two hundred years ago, many of us would have died of childhood illnesses. The rule still applies. Looking backwards, we can all trace the existence of our bodies back to
the moment of conception.

 

[jean8]

Sort of. We assume that the Almighty will take them into heaven, although he alone decides that, of course.

I would disagree to some extent, as far as it being a losing part of the argument. The life and the personhood are inseparable. If the embryo is enabled (legally) with personhood status, then abortion will legally become murder. Until then, they’re just considered living extensions of the mother, which can be removed and discarded like a wart.

I agree in the sense that the argument is lost on those who currently make the decisions on the legality of abortion.

newbe,
I’ve never heard such ridiculous comments about human conception.
To get to basics, when two people have sex there is a very good chance pregnancy will occur. Everyone today is aware of birth control. All types are avaible. Even abstinence.

God tells in Ps. 139:13-17 while we are being formed he was present. "Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."I like verse, 17 which reads "“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!”
I hope everyone will keep this teaching in mind at all times. Tell your friends about it.

God bless you,
jean8

 

[mlchance]

Sure cells are alive… …just becaouse i say this, it still does not convince me that LIFE starts at conception. I do agree that the cluster of cells are alive…

You contradict yourself. Your belief is incoherent because it flies in the face of the truth of the matter.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[kalt]

Yes and so can a lot of my friends. However a spontaneous abortion is still a fertilized egg not being able to implant into the womb (but not limited to just that, I know and understand this)

Sure cells are alive…my skin cells are alive and so are the cells that make up all of my body matter…however they still need nourishment from me. Without me, if they are chunked off and taken out they will die. They need my blood. Free floating cells do not have blood flow to them, an implanted fertalized egg does. Thats where I rationalized that YOU JUST DONT rip it out. Its NOT A CANCER, ITS NOT A TUMOR, it will develop, but only with the blood and nourishment from the mothers body. I have said in my previous posts that all fertilized eggs deserve the chance at implantation…just becaouse i say this, it still does not convince me that LIFE starts at conception. I do agree that the cluster of cells are alive, but they will not remain"alive" if not provided nourishment. That is where I draw my “opinion” and that is what it is my opinion…cause I may have scientific facts but still science can be wrong and it surely cant prove GOD wrong. I believe what I believe. A cluster of cells to me is no proof that life starts at conception. That cluster of cells MUST implant into the womb and THEN do I consider it a life. Only until then. Cause if we argue that life starts at conception…then there are a whole bunch of us women here and around the world who have suffered miscarriages or S.A’s without even knowing it.

GOD BLESS and I am sorry for your loss.

Why does a cluster of cells that isn’t human deserve anything?

If it’s alive, what is it? Is it part of the mother? Is it part of the father? Is it neither? If it’s neither, what is it, exactly? A cluster of whose cells?

BTW, you say that the cells can be aborted because there’s no guarantee that they will implant. Do you realize that once implanted, there is no guarantee that the cells will survive? And do you realize that the blood supply from the mother. which is how you define life (" Free floating cells do not have blood flow to them, an implanted fertalized egg does. Thats where I rationalized that YOU JUST DONT rip it out. Its NOT A CANCER, ITS NOT A TUMOR, it will develop, but only with the blood and nourishment from the mothers body") isn’t immediately started at implantation?

The “floating cells” are already developing. Development doens’t begin with implantation, but continues.

Your defintion of life includes two parts–development and blood flow beginning at conception.

The cells are developing before implantation, and the blood flow doesn’t begin at the moment of implantation.

 

[coda]

Good for them. I had no money, job or insurance. Mad at God? How could I be mad at a entity I don’t believe in? Folks, this was over 20 years ago. I’ve been suidical before and since. My depression has been with me since I was about 10 - I’m now 50. Bipolar disorder runs in my family. My dad killed himself, brother drank himself to death. Personally, I don’t think life is anything to write home about. I certainly could have done without it.

And, yes, it was a mistake to end up pregnant - I was very codependent and was talked into getting pregnant by a man who deserted me once I was. I had my tubes tied and that was that.

Oh, and about that cheap crack about my being agnostic because it’s easy for me - you don’t know me from Adam - my life, choices, agonies, searching, all sincere, you know nothing about. I assure you that it wasnt’ an easy conclusion, nor one that I made to ease my conscience. When I finally reevaluated my beliefs and through reason, observation and research I came to the conclusion that there is no personal god of any kind and, being honest with myself, realized that make me an agnostic (I believe in the supernatural, so I’m not an atheist). Thus the very basis for my and your beliefs on life are in themselves poles apart.

Sorry for the “cheap crack”, it was wrong. I am also sorry for all that you have been through. Do you know that God has been through it with you as well? What “type” of God did you formerly believe in? The sugar plum God whom only deserved thanks and glory when you got things you wanted the way you wanted them, or the God who Himself suffered horribly for you. God does not owe us anything. It can be unbearably hard{I have been there} to offer our sorrows up in union with Christ’s, but we must if we are EVER able to understand them. Hopefully you can find God who loves you and in Whom you will finally find peace…Again, I am sorry. I will pray for you. I hope you will try to pray for me. peace

 

[coda]

Yes I know all this, but it still does not waiver me to believe it as so. Oh and just so you know…NO…i do not take the holy eucharist for this very reason.

I mean, I do respect the possibility of life, I just dont believe that life starts the moment sperm and egg meet. If that is true, then I think I need to go mourn the loss of my lost children that could have been. Those cluster of cells are just that a cluster of free floating cells, IMHO, and ONCE it implants THEN its alive. You cant have cells live if it does not draw up nourishment. Yes the cluster needs the respect of being a possible future human being, I agree, but I STILL doe not think its a life…just yet.

You see that cluster of cells will just die, if it does not implant itself in the womb…It will just be flushed away. A lot of things can prevent that, stress and illness can prevent from implantation. So you can have a fertalized egg, but if a woman is really stressed or sick, and the body “feels” it cant handle a pregnancy, that “life” is flushed out, it will not be allowed by the body to take and implant itself. Again, so that is why I firmly believe life will not start until that cluster of cells is firmly attached to the womb. THE SECOND it attaches itself, THEN to me, it is a life, not before.

You dont receive communion: have you tried confession?

 

[remjsmom76]

Yes of course we are all lucky we are to be here and yes, I agree we can trace the existence of our bodies back to the moment of conception…but that DOES NOT mean we were “alive” at that moment. It just meant we had the CHANCE at life, if all conditions were met and of course your here Im here so I guess all conditions are met. I mean…you can mix water and flour but all it is is dough…Its not bread yet, you have to bake it, you cant call it “bread” until it becomes bread.

Is the question about how you feel about being alive? You speak of luck. Two hundred years ago, many of us would have died of childhood illnesses. The rule still applies. Looking backwards, we can all trace the existence of our bodies back to
the moment of conception.

 

[remjsmom76]

I dont see how Im contradicting myself. I agree its a cell ALL CELLS ARE ALIVE IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER. However if you take away the nourishment of the body, it will die, all cells need the water and blood of my body to survive. Yes, its alive, but it will only stay alive if it implants and recieves nurishment. Otherwise…it dies, like any other cell. It cant be free floating until birth…IT HAS TO IMPLANT or it DIES. I am not contradiciting myself…your only reading what you want and drawing your own conclusions for my responses. That “baby” will NOT LIVE and just DIE if its not able to implant in the mother.

You contradict yourself. Your belief is incoherent because it flies in the face of the truth of the matter.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[mlchance]

I am not contradiciting myself…

When in one sentence you say something is alive, and then in another say that it isn’t alive yet, you’re contradict yourself.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[remjsmom76]

Of course it deserved the “opportunity” to become human, to form into a baby. It is our responsibility to allow that cluster of cells to have a chance. We should not take anything that will chemically alter the state of the womans womb. We should not willingly creat a hostile environment to prevent pregnancy.

Im not saying a cluster of cells can be aborted, not when it has implanted, the body can abort it on its own. That is why I do not believe life starts at conception, to me it starts when that cluster of cells embeds itself INTO the womb of the mother. And yes I do know that that cluster of cells has no guarantee of living when it embeds…BUT IT IS starting to draw blood and nourishment from the mother SO IT HAS A CHANCE, where as a cluster of cells that never our couldnt embed for what ever reason will just die and be flushed out by the menstration of the woman. Yes, I do know that free floating cells do not have blood blow to them, have you read my responses? Yes I know that a fertalized egg that has implanted does. And yes I know it continues to thrive when implants, I know the cells start to split when fertilization starts…but if it does not implant it can not thrive…so it dies…it does not LIVE…without implantation there is no possibilities of life, SHOOT it can implant outside of the womb it has happend before and the child will still live…Ive heard of women who somehow the baby implanted it self on the outside of the womb and into the intestine. The fact of the matter is, no implantaion no life, implantation…POSSIBILITIES OF LIFE. Its not a guarantee

Just for the record…I do not think that once implantation has occured and for whatever reason the “child” has died and been expelled, that it is a spontaneous abortion. I believe it is a miscarriage. I dont like the word abortion, to me that word means the person WILLINGLY stoped the pregnancy from continuing on, and willingly and knowingly killed or allowed a doctor to perform a procedure to kill a growing child inside the mother. Spontaneous abortion is just a medical term. I dont like it.

Why does a cluster of cells that isn’t human deserve anything?

If it’s alive, what is it? Is it part of the mother? Is it part of the father? Is it neither? If it’s neither, what is it, exactly? A cluster of whose cells?

BTW, you say that the cells can be aborted because there’s no guarantee that they will implant. Do you realize that once implanted, there is no guarantee that the cells will survive? And do you realize that the blood supply from the mother. which is how you define life (" Free floating cells do not have blood flow to them, an implanted fertalized egg does. Thats where I rationalized that YOU JUST DONT rip it out. Its NOT A CANCER, ITS NOT A TUMOR, it will develop, but only with the blood and nourishment from the mothers body") isn’t immediately started at implantation?

The “floating cells” are already developing. Development doens’t begin with implantation, but continues.

Your defintion of life includes two parts–development and blood flow beginning at conception.

The cells are developing before implantation, and the blood flow doesn’t begin at the moment of implantation.