I have said it many years in a discussion on abortion . The fetus / embryo is alive until the abortion kills it. A fertilized egg has a unique genome. According to my freshman bio book, a cell has seven criteria it has to meet to be considered alive. A fertilized cell meets all 7 of them. This does not include needing help to survive. If it does, then why don't we kill off grandma. she's mot alive if she needs support to feed, respire, etc. according to this. No religion, but scientific criteria.