No. The question turns on a basic biological distinction about what is being killed, if anything at all.
Sperm cells can be alive and contain human DNA, but they are not human organisms. They function as parts of a larger organism—the man—and have no integrated, self-directed development of their own. A decisive biological change occurs only when sperm and egg unite and fertilization is complete. At that point, a new diploid cell called a zygote comes into existence, and with it a new organism whose parts work together toward its own development.
Because of this, treating a fertilized egg as morally equivalent to a sperm cell is a category mistake. Sperm and zygotes are not the same kind of entity biologically. One is a cell that is part of someone else’s body; the other is a whole, distinct human organism. That is why masturbation does not kill a human organism, while abortion does.
The central moral issue, then, is not whether abortion involves killing—this is biologically indisputable—but whether killing a living human organism is justified. Masturbation does not raise that question at all, because no human organism is involved.
Key Takeaways
Sperm cells are human cells, not human organisms; killing cells is not the same as killing a human being.
Fertilization marks a real biological transition: from separate gametes to a single, unified human organism.
Comparing masturbation to abortion confuses fundamentally different categories of biological entities.
Abortion uniquely involves the intentional killing of a living human organism, which is the true moral question at stake.