Abortion is not murder.

I'd also like to point out that my opponent, the instigator, has presented no arguments, and as such I will begin by introducing several definitions followed by six arguments to begin my R1 rebuttal. - ABORTION: The termination of a pregnancy resulting in the death of an embryo or fetus [1] - MURDER: The crime of unlawfully killing a person, especially with malice aforethought [2] - PERSON: The physical self or the personality of a human being [3] - FETUS: An unborn or unhatched vertebrae; specifically: a developing human [4] 1) Very plainly, according to the definitions themselves, abortion is not murder. Murder is the crime of unlawfully killing a PERSON. A fetus or an embryo is merely a developing human being - not a person. At best, it is a *developing* person. A person and a developing person are not the same thing, and as such cannot have equal protection under the law. So, according to the very definitions themselves, abortion is not murder. 2) Murder is a crime because it infringes upon one's right to life. However, a fetus has no rights. The concept of rights is based on man's nature and presupposes the existence of an actual, fully formed and separate human being apart from the mother. Thus a fetus has no rights until it exists separate from the mother, i. e. , at birth. So again, the concept of murder cannot apply to the fetus. 3) A woman has the right to choose to terminate her pregnancy. No other person or government legislation should be able to dictate what a person does with their own body. Since an embryo or fetus can be seen merely as an extension of the mother, and therefore it is the mother's property (since it is not yet its own person), then aborting an unborn fetus is actually technically just discarding one's own property - not committing murder. 4) Murdering someone implies malicious intent. There are many situations in which pregnancy can severely harm or threaten a mother's health. In those cases, if a woman chooses to end a pregnancy for her own safety or well-being, I posit that she does not necessarily have malicious intent and therefore what she is doing would not be considered murder. 5) The fundamental condition for one's survival is the freedom to use rational faculty to maintain and enjoy their life. Thus, a pregnant woman, like every other individual, has the right to determine her own destiny and the destiny of her body, to choose what constitutes her own best interest and private happiness and to work for its achievement, so long as she respects the same rights in others [5]. 6) Now, of course my opponent will want to argue about when a fetus becomes an actual person and should have rights. I personally believe that abortion would be morally wrong once a fetus becomes conscious, i. e. sometime in the second or third trimester. However, having an abortion after that time would not technically constitute murder; the function of the law (i. e. declaration of murder) is to protect rights - not to dictate moral issues which involve no violation of rights. Sources: [1] . http://www.merriam-webster.com... [2] . http://www.merriam-webster.com... [3] . http://www.merriam-webster.com... [4] . http://www.merriam-webster.com... [5] . http://www.encyclopedia.com...