In response to the Dec. 29 letter to the editor 'Roe. v. Wade' by Joe Bialek 

Life does not begin at conception. It is a cell... just as we have epidermal cells, brain cells, heart cells, etc. and cells die naturally. In the first week after the sperm penetrates the egg, cleavage division occurs. More divisions occur in the zygote just as in other cells throughout the body. On or before the 10th day, the placenta is formed. At the third week or somewhere during that time, a neural tube is formed in which other tissue develops. These are called somites. By the end of the fourth week, the organs are developing and the heart is forming. So until this week, these cells are not alive — just reproducing as any other cell reproduces. And women don't even know they are pregnant until this time so they can't have a choice in the timing.