Controversy over the beginning of pregnancy usually occurs in the context of the abortion ebate. Depending on where pregnancy is considered to begin, some methods of birth control or infertility treatment might be considered abortifacient. The controversy is not primarily a scientific issue since knowledge of human reproduction and development has become very refined, but rather is primarily a linguistic and definitional question. The issue may also have social, medical, political and legal ramifications, but only if one equates the "beginning of pregnancy" with the "beginning of an individual human being's life".