Pro Life Advocates Present Plan to Eliminate Abortion is Failing!

Thanks history!! ==Rebuttal== R1) There are 5 conservatives on the Supreme Court This is not quite accurate. Anthony Kennedy is more correctly termed a swing vote, since he tends to be very conservative on some issues, but he has voted in the past with liberals on other issues, like abortion (such as in Planned Parenthood v. Casey). [1] He has also been somewhat liberal on gay rights, but has been very conservative on gun rights and the environment. Pro-lifers need to replace him or another liberal on the Court in order to get the 5 votes to overturn Roe v. Wade. R2) Waiting for Superman There are a couple problems with this. First, Obama is FAR from guaranteed re-election and justices usually serve well into their 80's before retiring, so Obama is unlikely to get another appointment. The second problem is that GW Bush was extremely smart to appoint someone so young to the Court as Justice Roberts, who is a baby compared to other appointments (he had only 2 years of judicial experience). So Pro-lifers are pursuing new strategies to load the Court with their appointments. Third, this ignores the ways that Pro-lifers try to whittle away at abortion rights, piece-by-piece. Fourth, Pro-lifers HAVE been successful because they have gotten EXTREMELY conservative justices on the Court, as the Posner & Lands study concluded: four of the five most conservative justices in US history are CURRENTLY serving on the Court. Pro-lifers have sought appointments that were extremely conservative, not moderate, and this was a HUGE deal because the Bush administration *utterly refused* to bow to Congressional pressure to appoint more moderate justices and instead held out for their first choices. This is an effective strategy that is on the cusp of succeeding, since they only need one more appointment to overturn Roe. The strategy can't have failed if they are THAT close. R3) "Small unknown victories" The majority of people seeking abortions are in poverty. Choking off funds from Planned Parenthood, banning abortions from being covered by government health care systems (which the poor all use), etc IS an effective strategy to prevent abortions. This is not some small unknown victory. In addition, allowing doctors to refuse to follow a hospital's orders when asked to do an abortion is also a HUGE victory since it effectively denies the procedure in many areas. Making minors unable to seek abortions is also a huge step. Most minors who are seeking abortions are doing so precisely because they don't want parents to find out, so requiring parental approval severely limits access to the procedure. These are not small victories. Banning later term abortions is also big. Abortion may be legal, but if states can restrict abortion into the third trimester, and then partway into the second as well, this severely limits how many women are eligible. R4) Viewpoints in America It may be that 17% believe that a woman should not have an abortion "under any circumstances," but that question includes the scenario "she will die if she doesn't get the abortion" (like a ectopic pregnancy). Most pro-lifers allow health exceptions. This proves absolutely nothing. These poll numbers are also pretty misleading. The Marist poll finds that "86% of Americans would significantly restrict abortion. 60% of Americans would limit abortion to cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother – or would not allow it at all." [5] This is a huge majority. =========== Since I have a lot more characters, I'll just list more victories for Pro-Lifers. 1. "Six states have passed laws virtually banning all abortions after five months of pregnancy." [2] 2. Pro-lifers are pushing a bill in Ohio to ban abortion after the first fetal heart beat, which is approximately at six weeks. [2] This proves my argument that this will keep getting worse until women can only have abortions 1 day after conception, which means abortion will still be "legal" but restricted to a ridiculous extreme. 3. "Nowhere has the battle been more pitched than in Kansas, where the Legislature this session passed four anti-abortion measures and attempted to adopt strict new licensing rules that this week came within hours of closing down the state's last abortion provider." [3] Yes, it said "last." There is only one abortion provider left in Kansas, due to pro-life efforts. 4. "The pro-life movement has . . . the strongest pro-life caucus in the U.S. House that [we]'ve ever seen, and state legislatures have changed as well. Statistics compiled by NARAL Pro-Choice America show that 29 governors — including Kansan Sam Brownback — now oppose abortion, up from 21 before the 2010 elections." [3] 5. "By NARAL's count, 470 anti-abortion measures were taken up by states in 2011 as of June 28, up from 175 in 2010." [3] 6. Various states now require 72 hour waiting periods for abortions, require women to seek mandatory counseling before being allowed to have an abortion, and require abortion clinics to show women sonograms of their baby (trying to trigger an emotional connection and prevent the abortion). [3] 7. Indiana Governor cuts ALL Planned Parenthood funding. [4] 8. Although Kennedy upheld Roe v. Wade in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, he also acknowledge that all but the most extreme restrictions on abortion would be allowed. "In 1992, the Court upheld the basic right to abortion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. However, it also expanded the ability of the states to enact all but the most extreme restrictions on women's access to abortion." [6] 9. I'm getting bored of this, but you get the point... Vote Con. [1] Savage, James. Turning Right: The Making of the Rehnquist Supreme Court. 1993. [2] http://www.sfexaminer.com... [3] http://www.npr.org... [4] http://www.catholicnewsagency.com... [5] http://www.politikditto.com... [6] http://www.guttmacher.org...