PIP: Participants at the Human Life Symposium: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Concept of Person, held in Houston in March, 1982, considered the question of when life and personhood begin. Previously all such discussions have been held in the political arena and in right to life publications. In 1973 the Supreme Court had refused to resolve the question. In 1981 Senator Helms Human Life Amendment (2038) to debt ceiling legislation stated that life begins at conception and the fetus was entitled to protection under the law. This would have created severe abortion funding restrictions and has not yet been passed. From the scientific point of view it was concluded that biology alone is not able to determine the point at which personhood is established. Several scientists expressed their view on personhood covering such areas as subjective awareness including personality, a sense of self and consciousness, social status rights and obligations. Reasons for not defining the fetus as a person included the negative impact on providing medical services to the mother and the fetus, and ethical issues in fetal surgery. The legal impact of bestowing personhood on the fetus would not resolve the abortion issue, and historically the law has treated the fetus differently for different purposes. If a fetus were legally defined as a person, additional areas of conflict in consitutional law, tax law and others would arise. A final area discussed was whether any of the criteria which define death could help define life; results were inconclusive. The participants agreed that while further explorations of the question are necessary, legislative action seems inappropriate at this time.