Kleptin Tournament: Abortion

This is a special debate for Kleptin's special debate tourney: . http://www.debate.org... The debate this is based off of is: . http://www.debate.org... Voting rules: "The categories give you 7 points to play with. The contender will always be the one trying to defeat his or her old arguments. "Use the 7 points to show how well the contender managed to respond to his/her old arguments. A link to the contender's old debate should be available. "If the contender made some roundabout attempt to avoid arguing against his/her old argument, then be the judge. If you felt it was clever and applicable, award full points. If you found it desperate and unconvincing, give points to the opponent. " Finally, only people participating in this tournament may vote. __________________________________________________________________ ARGUMENTS: Conclusion: Abortion should remain legal. Reasons: 1. A fetus is not a human being. 2. Potential life is not equal to actual life. 3. Anti-abortion laws infringe on a woman's rights. 4. Illegal abortions are dangerous. 5. A human's essence is not premeditatedly determined by some destiny. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. A Fetus is Not a Human Being In order for killing to be illegal, it must fall under the category of "murder. " A murder is defined by US law Code, at Title 18, as: "Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. " Abortion does not fall under the category of "murder" because a fetus is not a human being. Wiktionary, for instance, defines a human being as, "A human being, whether man, woman, or child; Of or belonging to the species Homo sapiens or its closest relatives. " --- You will not find a single unbiased, professional dictionary that adds "fetus" to what a human being is. One does not consider a dead human body a "human being. " We consider it the remains. One does not consider sperm or eggs as human beings. We do not consider a baby born without a brain a human being - only an empty body void of any life. What makes one a human being is a functioning brain, a body that can sustain the brain, and complete development as according to the plans of it's DNA. A quick metaphor: When you are building a car, you do not call the engine the car. You call it the engine. When you are halfway done with the car, it is still not the car yet. Once the car has been completed can it be considered an actual car. The same applies for a human being. Until a human being is fully developed, it is not a human but stem cells forming and developing into a complete human. 2. Potential Life is Not Equal to Actual Life Because a cellular structure that is moving toward the development of a full human being does not have all of the properties of a fully developed human (just as an engine, seats, and spark plugs don't make you a car alone), they are not equal according to Leibniz Law of identity (X is the same as Y if, and only if, X and Y have all the same properties and relations; thus, whatever is true of X is also true of Y, and vice-versa). If the act of destroying potential life ought to be illegal, then masturbation ought to be illegal as well. Any person who knowingly masturbates is committing a murder. We should condemn men to imprisonment for manslaughter when they have a wet dream (they destroyed tons of potential life making sperm). Women who have a period every month should also be condemned to imprisonment for manslaughter. A person who fights rape should be condemned to prison for murder, refusing to be promiscuous should be condemned as murder, and so forth. Potential life does not equal actual life, just as your potential to murder someone does not equal you actually murdering someone until the full act has been committed. 3. Anti-abortion laws infringe on a woman's rights. Abortion is necessary in cases where a mother's life is at jeopardy if she gives birth. When a doctor diagnoses a woman with such a condition, then she should have the opportunity to abort the fetus and save herself. A woman should not be forced to give up her life. A human being has the right, under our legal system, to protect their property and life. A woman has the right to do with her body as she pleases. If someone wishes to tattoo, brand, or pierce themselves, it is perfectly legal. If someone wishes to chop off their finger, it is perfectly legal. If a woman decides she wants to get rid of a growing mass of cells in her uterus, it should be perfectly legal for her to do so just as it is perfectly legal for her to remove a cancerous mass or use an anti-biotic to kill a bacteria in her body. 4. Illegal Abortions are Dangerous If abortions were made illegal, women would not stop having abortions. Back ally abortions would become the popular method, and the past has taught us the fallacious nature of assuming an illegal status on an activity will stop it from happening. According to Planned Parenthood, "In 1972 there were 1,000,000 illegal abortions and 5,000 to 10,000 women died from them. " When Roe v. Wade passed in 1973 (a year after the above-mentioned statistic), deaths from abortion drastically dropped. This is supported by the National Center for Health Statistics' own statistics. Even if you believe that a fetus is a human being, an illegal abortion can kill two individuals instead of one where a professionally performed abortion is nowhere near as hazardous. It is far healthier, far more moral, and far more reasonable to have abortion available for people who are just going to do it anyway. It will at least save the mother and keep her healthy. 5. A Human's Essence is Not Premeditatedly Determined by Some Destiny. To go against the argument that a fetus may in fact become a genius that saves millions of human beings: A human's essence is not premeditatedly determined by some destiny, but is determined by his genes and environment. Assuming that a human's essence is determined by a destiny is an invalid claim, and therefore destroys the argument all together. ----------------------------------- Conclusion: Abortion should remain legal.