"They die, so they aren't human." ???

A number of people who support abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research note that embryos occasionally fail to implant. They attempt to make this the basis of an argument ad absurdum against the (scientific fact of the) humanity of the embryo:

Them: So you think the embryo is a human being?

Us: Yes.

T: Did you know that many embryos fail to implant and hence die?

U: Yes.

T: Yet you still believe that these embryos are human beings?

U: Yes.

T: You're not serious, are you?

U: Yes.

That's pretty much it... the fact that the embryos die somehow indicates that they aren't human beings, and therefore there is no problem offering them updissecting them for Science.

Ramesh Ponnuru has his own argument ad absurdum which indicates the absurdity of this position:

A lot of human embryos die because they fail to implant, therefore they weren't alive in the first place. In other words: because they die naturally, it's okay for us to kill them deliberately. Because tsunamis happen, is it okay to slaughter Asians?

Well done, Ramesh.