Reddit reviews The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology

No, the fact that these things are true makes them true.

> Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (7th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003)
>
> A zygote [fertilized egg] is the beginning of a new human being. Human development begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete … unites with a female gamete or oocyte … to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.

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> Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology (7th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008, p. 2):
>
> [The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.

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> Human Embryology & Teratology (Ronan R. O’Rahilly, Fabiola Muller [New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996], 5-55):
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> Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed[.]

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> T.W. Sadler, Langman’s Medical Embryology (10th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006, p. 11):
>
> Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the femal gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote.

There's more, but I find that going overboard on sourcing something tends to bore people rather than make the point. That an unborn human is a human and is alive is not a matter of philosophy. It is a matter of fact. What you decide with regard to those facts is a matter of philosophy, but the bare claim that unborn humans are humans and alive are facts and are settled.

>I have never heard anyone say that a zygote is a individual organism, it isn't a distinct species, its simply a stage of early fetus development in humans.

At this point you're just arguing genetics with genetics textbooks and other reputable sources that agree, a distinct human being is created at fertilization:

1. “A zygote [fertilized egg] is the beginning of a new human being.”
   
   1. Keith L. Moore’s The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (7th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003)
      
2. “[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”
   
   1. Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology (7th edition, Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008, p. 2)
      
3. “Fertilization is an important landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new, genetically distinct human organism is thereby formed[.]”
   
   1. Human Embryology & Teratology (Ronan R. O’Rahilly, Fabiola Muller [New York: Wiley-Liss, 1996], 5-55)
      
4. “Although life is a continuous process, fertilization … is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.”
   
   1. Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Miller, Human Embryology and Teratology [3rd edition, New York: Wiley-Liss, 2001, p. 8]
      
5. “Embryo: The developing individual between the union of the germ cells and the completion of the organs which characterize its body when it becomes a separate organism. … At the moment the sperm cell of the human male meets the ovum of the female and the union results in a fertilized ovum (zygote), a new life has begun[.]”
   
   1. Considine, Douglas [ed.], Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, 5th edition, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1976, p. 943
      
6. “Almost all higher animals start their lives from a single cell, the fertilized ovum (zygote)[.] … The time of fertilization represents the starting point in the life history, or ontogeny, of the individual.”
   
   1. Carlson, Bruce M. Patten’s Foundations of Embryology, 6th edition, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996, p. 3
      
7. “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion … it is plain experimental evidence. Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.”
   
   1. “Father of Modern Genetics” Dr. Jerome Lejeune Congressional Testimony
      
8. “Zygote: The single-celled organism that results from the joining of the egg and sperm.”
   
   1. Planned Parenthood
      
9. "The sperm and egg merge to form a little single-celled organism called a zygote, which consists of the 23 chromosomes from the man's sperm and the 23 chromosomes from the female's egg.”
   
   1. HowStuffWorks
      
10. “Zygote : fertilized egg; one-celled organism;”
    
    1. Oklahoma School of Math and Science
       
11. "Organism, being a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently"
    
    1. Hyperdictionary.com
       
12. "Conception and Fertilization! The egg and sperm meet, creating a single cell organism called a zygote."
    
    1. Pregnancy.org
       
13. "The egg and sperm will meet, creating a single cell organism called a zygote "
    
    1. Maternity Corner
       
14. "When sperm reaches and is able to fertilize a female's egg, the first building block of life is created in the form of a one-cell organism called a zygote."
    
    1. Ehow.com
       
15. "Upon the uniting of a sperm and an ovum, a single celled organism called a “zygote” is formed. This single celled organism consists of 23 pairs of chromosomes, in other words, 46 single chromosomes, of which 23 are inherited from father and the remaining 23 are inherited from the mother. "
    
    1. Educational Weblog
       
16. "If a woman has intercourse around the time of ovulation, one sperm cell out of millions of sperm that are deposited into the vagina, may fertilize the egg within the fallopian tube. The result is a single-celled organism called a zygote."
    
    1. Basic Reproductive Biology for Lawyers ; Anne Borkowski, MD
       
17. http://prolifemn.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-human-zygote-is-organism-and-why-it.html
    
18. https://lozierinstitute.org/a-scientific-view-of-when-life-begins/
    
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    >There are no positives for your altered definition, and its definitely not how the terminology is used in the scientific or medical field.
    
    I literally just gave the biggest positive for why I would like to use my definition. The second reason is that it's not alerted, but rather the proper definition and I don't like it when helpful definitions are hijacked.