Abortion Should Be Illegal

Thanks for the quick response. My opponent obviously still needs to respond to my opening salvo. == Rebuttal to Round 2 == My opponent makes the classic "abortion is murder" argument because every fetus is a "potential human." But firstly, the classic reductio ad absurdum is that menstruation and masturbation are then murder, since these are also potential humans. The classic pro-life response to this is: but an additional step is needed for sperm and ovum to become a potential human. However, MANY steps need to be taken for a fetus to become a potential human as well. If a mother does not eat enough calories, the fetus will die. So the reductio stands. Also, my opponent fails to differentiate abortion from homicide. We know homicide is wrong, but there are exculpating circumstances for other types of murder. For suicide, it's not the same as homicide because you're killing YOURSELF and you have some claim over your own life. For killing an enemy soldier, moral culpability is lessened because your country demands that you do so. For killing a fetus, moral culpability is lessened because the fetus cannot feel pain and is not self-actualized, meaning it does not know what "life" is, what "death" is, and never learns what it is missing. That which never existed cannot feel sorrow at its own non-existence. We may as well feel sorry for the vacuum of space that it never gets to feel life. Furthermore, unless my opponent proves that the CI is preferable to Utilitarianism, there is no reason to reject specific types of "murder." We care only about which policy maximizes societal good. Allowing abortion maximizes societal good by preventing unsafe abortions (which would kill 15,000 American women each year), by preventing massive overpopulation, and by preventing crime caused by unwanted children. My opponent says, "There have been quite a few cases of women dying, becoming sterile from a botched abortion, or ending up in the hospital with further complications." She is probably referring to illicit abortions. Modern abortions, in the U.S., are extremely safe procedures, WHEREAS illicit back-alley abortions are quite dangerous. I provided a world-wide cross-national study showing that if we banned abortion, we would only shift abortions into the back-alley. My opponent says many parents are turned down for adoption. First, I'd like to know how many. Second, the reason many parents are turned down is because they are looking for certain types of babies that are in short supply (such as white babies). The New York Times cites a study that Black, male babies are considered by prospective parents as the least adoptable. [13] NPR reports that 50% of children waiting to be placed within the foster children are African American. [14] The problem is that most of the children put up for adoption would be minorities but many of the adoptive parents don't want minority children and specifically put down on their request forms that they refuse to adopt a racial-minority child. Lastly, many people who are turned down for adoption are turned down because a social worker has deemed them unfit parents. My opponent must provide evidence that people are turned down routinely for adoption due to a lack of children in foster care (which is clearly NOT the case since foster homes are swamped with kids). Lastly, my opponent cites the "mental anguish" that women undergo when giving up a child. Some women may experience mental difficulties. However, informed consent laws requires physicians to thoroughly warn women that they may experience feelings of regret. If they choose to follow through anyways with the abortion, that is their choice to make. Young single mothers who are forced to raise a child they don't want have mental problems of their own; they often look back on their lives and think "what if I hadn't had a child when I was X years old. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. My opponent claims that if a mother gives a child up for adoption, at least they can see the child later. This is untrue - when you give a child up for adoption, you must sign a form waiving all rights to ever see the child again. Many women also experience serious psychological problems stemming from the adoption process and wonder their whole lives what would have happened if they kept the child. This form of psychological problem is MORE severe because the woman saw the full grown baby before giving it up AND the woman got a dose of hormones intended to pair bond her to the child (right after childbirth). Wondering "what could have been" is much worse in the case of adoption than abortion. As such, women should be able to make this decision, after reading a consent form outlining common psychological problems that women experience. Sources: http://www.debate.org...