"Are you saying you think a zygote is conscious?"
And other follow up questions.
Q: Are you saying you think a zygote is conscious?
The following is my opinion, yet it is not an uninformed or anti-scientific one - just different from one a more strict scientific minded, or rather atheist minded might express.
All biological / living cells operate with an intelligence so far beyond anything humans have built or thus far imagined - this intelligence, an orchestration of chemical and physical actions and reactions, utilization of electro-chemical and biophoton mechanics are most definitely beyond current scientific observation and measuring apparatus. What it is, I am not so sure - I just am lead to believe that there is sentience, intelligence, direction - an orchestrated concert at even the single-cellular level, and that at the moment of fertilization, the zygote can be considered as a singularity where a new direction appears. A new independence (even though it is within another independent organism) emerges.
This is an interesting (relatively recent) paper that hasn't really obtained the attention it deserves:
De novo mutation rates at the single-mutation resolution in a human HBB gene region associated with adaptation and genetic disease (March 2022) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8896469/
Scientific evidence that strongly suggests single cell's point / nucleotide mutation are directed, at minimum influenced by the environment. Single cells might process information and then can express (or alternately, test) new mutations relevant to their environment (Lamarckianism.) Except, there is no known molecular mechanistic model that currently elaborates or explains these findings, mostly because even if a point mutation could be observable in real time, the information available to analyze doesn't elucidate why it happened. The default non-answer is pure "chance" (random mutation) - but this paper heavily suggests that is not the case.
Although it is known that the mutation rate varies across the genome, previous estimates were based on averaging across various numbers of positions. Here, we describe a method to measure the origination rates of target mutations at target base positions and apply it to a 6-bp region in the human hemoglobin subunit beta (HBB) gene and to the identical, paralogous hemoglobin subunit delta (HBD) region in sperm cells from both African and European donors. The HBB region of interest (ROI) includes the site of the hemoglobin S (HbS) mutation, which protects against malaria, is common in Africa, and has served as a classic example of adaptation by random mutation and natural selection. We found a significant correspondence between de novo mutation rates and past observations of alleles in carriers, showing that mutation rates vary substantially in a mutation-specific manner that contributes to the site frequency spectrum. We also found that the overall point mutation rate is significantly higher in Africans than in Europeans in the HBB region studied. Finally, the rate of the 20A→T mutation, called the “HbS mutation” when it appears in HBB, is significantly higher than expected from the genome-wide average for this mutation type. Nine instances were observed in the African HBB ROI, where it is of adaptive significance, representing at least three independent originations; no instances were observed elsewhere. Further studies will be needed to examine mutation rates at the single-mutation resolution across these and other loci and organisms and to uncover the molecular mechanisms responsible.
These mutations that confer protection against "malaria" just so happen to be linked to sickle cell anemia (causes it)
It appears particular point mutations are "beckoned for" given exposure to an endemic parasite (plasmosis in this case)
As for “intelligence”, I am certainly left thinking no other possibility is as reasonable than assigning a great intelligence to single cells; and that, perhaps, snuffing the zygote is akin to snuffing distinct consciousness out. Yet, it is not identical to the "consciousness" that fully developed humans contain (you, the reader, and I possess) only because it is not yet the tens of trillions cells working in concert - rather a small number (1 at the beginning.)
Others are free to form their own opinion based on the facts they've managed to assembled which hopefully are diverse enough to appreciate the epistemological unknowns we are are facing.
Q: Are you saying you think Evolution is related to consciousness?
Yes. Neo-darwinism mechanisms of stochastic mutation strongly suggested to me at one point that there is not intelligence at the cellular level and that it is purely mechanistic and guided by pre-existing rules only with no directionality to its unfurling complexity (random mutation + natural selection.) As soon as this is challenged, it opens up the doorway for seeing other scientific domains differently; the epistemological unknowns of biology become more easier to perceive.
Q: Do you think this has anything to do with abortions and the decisions a Mother should make with regards to her own body?
Yes. The spatial location of the zygote, although inside a Mother’s body, is not hers. She is therefore making a decision that affects her and another’s body.
Here is a thought experiment to try and suggest why I think so.
Imagine a type of being that could engulf others, and from then on support its life-cycle. A type of “unbirthing”. On this unbirth does the organism lose its consciousness for simply being inside another being?
Yet, I am not downplaying the nutrient delivery, waste expulsion and supporting role otherwise required by Mother. Pregnancy is not easy and comes with a list of side effects. That is, the sacrifice required on her part. But sacrificing for an individual doesn’t give you full control over the life of that individual. The question then becomes: is a zygote an individual?
Q: Is a zygote an individual?
It does not have the same prime directive / imperatives as the Mother. Actually, a barrier, the uterus delineate the baby from mother, inside the womb. An umbilical cord serves as the highway between them. Some biologists even suggest as much that the baby is in extreme competition with the fetus; immunological and nutritive conflicts ensue. Biased pro-abortionists may use the word “parasite” here.
Yet from all the available evidence, it simply suggests to me, that the fetus and mother have different directives and are distinct organisms, with different bodies.
Q: Is childbirth / parturition an important marker for anything?
No, not in my opinion. Especially since, doctors can control this with induction of labor or with C-sections.
Q: Is the development of a heartbeat an important marker for anything?
Yes, but not for cellular consciousness. This marker is only important when starting with the presumption that consciousness requires a collection of macro-organs and submodules to exist. This does not appear to me to be a requirement for consciousness, since this essay should make it clear that consciousness appears to only require the cell.
Q: Should we involve ourselves in other’s decisions?
Only so far as to inform them (future or current child-bearers) to the best of our ability, respectfully so.
Q: Should be people be imprisoned or fined for aborting zygotes?
No. Given sufficient knowledge and openness to seeing the zygote as a distinct conscious cellular / multi-cellular organism, the punishment will, optionally or maybe even naturally, be self-inflicted. It could emerge from within those who decide it appropriate to abort (I do think there are valid reasons to abort). From my research and personal anecdotes, t is somewhat typical for those aborting to have mixed feelings about their decision. These feelings may stem from the projection of some type of sentience or consciousness on what was, moments before, living inside them. Since the status of the zygote’s consciousness is an epistemological unknown, this projection might very well be a logical / healthy preventative.
The above phenomena may act as a natural dis-inclination towards hasty or opt-in abortions, and I truly hope that is all that is required to get individuals thinking about these important matters.