The "When Does Life Begin?" game. Life is a continuum of course and whether we claim it 'began' back in the mists of herstory or we claim a particular life began when a fetus formed an ovary at about the 8th week the question really is not relevant. Another view of the "When Does Life Begin?"  game. In debating the right of a woman to retain control of her own body it is not unusual to have a list of "experts" who attested to the scientific basis for claiming "life begins at conception" presented to you as a supposed rebuttal.  Ernest Partridge, Ph.D provides a little background for that claim and evaluates the legitimacy of the answers from an ethicists perspective. More fallacious appeals to authority in the "When Does Life Begin?" game. Another regular 'rebuttal' of abortion support arguments is the long red herring essay of Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D,  which is prominently displayed on the Libertarians For Life site among others.  In this critique I show how Irvine is actually employing arguments that would result in a failing grade for an undergraduate