Abortion Should Remain Legal

"The prevention of harm to the woman is not the only reason for abortion, an abortion could be used for other reasons such as birth control, the prevention of a fetus with deformities from having a life of suffering, among other reasons." Yes, but the prevention of harm to the woman is the only valid legal reason, and that reason was essentially decided along ethical lines – it's also the only valid ethical reason. A fetus with deformities? Which deformities? What's a "life of suffering?" People with disabilities aren't all wallowing in misery. "An abortion could be necessary when it is too late to use other methods of birth control. And it doesn't make sense to say that women will always get an abortion instead of using other methods of birth control earlier. A woman will realize that it is easier to use protection opposed to not and always having to get abortions." That is absolutely true. I'm saying that when an abortion is no longer necessary, because of alternative treatments, there is no longer a compelling interest for abortions to be legal. "It is not possible to determine? Do you consider sperm to be human? Many people let millions of sperm die every day, but that will never be illegal. Some people think that a fetus becomes human when it can survive outside of the body. Some people think it becomes a human after it leaves the body. There can be many points when a fetus could be considered human, but the moment of conception is certainly not one of them. The moment of conception merely creates a cluster of cells that is incapable of thinking, showing emotion, of being conscious. A woman can choose where to draw the line of when the fetus is human, making abortion illegal is not the solution." You ignore my point, and then drew completely different conclusions from your interpretation of it. The point is that human life exists along a continuum, and along that continuum there exist stages where, as you said "a fetus could be considered human." I am not arguing that conception is such a stage, but I don't need to because the morning after pill fixes that problem without abortion. Abortion is a procedure that is not performed on unfertilized eggs and sperm, or even on early stage zygotes, but on embryos and fetuses. The discussion of the validity of human life is only valid within this range. "That may be true, but that 'someday' hasn't happened yet. For now, abortion must remain legal." This is not what you were arguing. You were arguing that "abortion should remain legal" because "women should have the right to their own bodies, not the government. A fetus is not a human, it is a potential human. Because of that, a potential human does not have any rights." A fetus may, in fact, have rights, because it may be human, and not merely a potential human. Just as you said, definitions differ. By asserting that the fetus' rights are never taken into account, you are making an argument that abortions are justified no matter what happens. After all, if one being has rights and the other does not, then there is nothing stopping the one being from doing as it wishes to the other. I am arguing that abortion rights should not remain legal indefinitely, as you have proposed, because there may (and likely will) come a time when abortion is no longer a valid ethical risk to take. Other Reasons for Abortion "A woman may want to get an abortion because she can't pay for the child. Would you want to be paying with your tax dollars for those unplanned children?" Sure. I like people more than things. But seriously, she could have the child adopted, or be required to seek potential adoptive parents before birth. There are certainly enough people who would like to have children. "Also, would you really deny a rape victim from having an abortion?" Yes. Potential should not be thwarted because of origin. "Would you expect her to care for a baby she didn't ask for, have to endure 9 months of pregnancy and labor, and have that baby as a reminder of the incident and that the child carries the genes of a rapist?" 1.I am positing that a procedure may exist to remove the child safely from the mother and incubate it so that she can get on with her life. When this happens, labor pains can no longer be taken into account as an ethical concern. 2.The "genes of a rapist" argument is eugenics speak. Many children of rape are adopted and go on to live 'normal' lives. Rape is borne out of the effects of certain experiences on those organisms that develop as a consequence of their genes. You can not inherent actions, just (possibly) a likelihood to commit certain actions given similar circumstances. http://forums.adoption.com... " Also, it shouldn't only be for a rape victim, there are other woman who don't want to carry that fetus around for 9 months that is an accident that a lot of parents would love less than a planned child." This is an argument for better birth control, not abortion. " And think of all the unplanned children adding to the population that is already starting to overcrowd, and how a kid would react if they found out that they were an accident." This is also an argument for better birth control, not abortion.