Abortion is Generally Immoral

IntroductionIn this round I will dismember Pro's case. He has offered three premises and from those he has drawn a conclusion. If any of the statements falls, the entire argument falls. I will examine each premise, and by refuting them, will refute the conclusion. Even if I am not able to successfully refute all three, as long as I can refute one, the resolution is negated.P1: The unborn entity, from fertilization is a full-fledged member of the human community.There are fundamental differences between an unborn human organism and a full-fledged human being. One main difference is that for a long period of time, a fetus is not viable outside the womb of the mother. This point at which the fetus is viable is generally at 28 weeks (7 months), but can be as early as 24 weeks [1]. Even if we look at the lower number, this is two-thirds of the way through the pregnancy. The percentage of abortions that occur after 21 weeks is 1.5%. 88% of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy [2]. Obviously, the vast majority of the time, abortions are conducted on an organism that is not viable outside the womb. Now, why is this whole viability thing important? Because my opponent is arguing that unborn human organisms are full-fledged humans. His argument does not justify a non-viable fetus as a full-fledged human.I will now specifically refute some of his arguments."Embryologists, who are the experts in the field, consistently agree that life begins at fertilization."Life, yes. Full-fledged human life, no."'a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.""A human organism. Not a full-fledged human being."'Human development begins at fertilization....This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.'"The process begins here, but this does not warrant the claim of full-fledged humanhood. A few analogies:A seed is not a plant. An egg is not a chicken. A fetus is not a human.As far as the Singer quote, we can categorize a fetus as a member of our species rather than of another species, but I disagree with Singer on whether an embryo is a human being. The same applies to Boonin. A fetus can be classified as a homo sapien, but that does not make it a full-fledged human. "We know the preborn are alive because they grow."The preborn are alive. So are bacteria and grass. The preborn are not examples of full-fledged human life."At no point in human development is a member of humanity a 'non-human.'" But it is not fully a human being. It is a human being in development."The pro-life position is that life begins at fertilization, which is supported by science. The pro-choice position places 'human life at certain arbitrary points which change from human to human."Life begins before fertilization: The sperm and the egg are both alive. Full-fledged human life, however, does not begin at fertilization. This is not supported by science. My position is that there is not a full-fledged human being until birth. This is also how society recognizes the beginning of human life. The president of the United States must be a natural born citizen, not have been conceived in the United States. We do not allow a pregnant person to drive in the carpool lane on a freeway. The premise is negated.P2: It is prima facie morally wrong to kill any member of that communityI have proven that a fetus is not a full-fledged member of that community. Because of this, abortion is not the killing of a human being, it is the killing of the beginnings of a human. "If two people engage in a consensual act that results in the creation of a new, needy human life, they bear a responsibility to care for that life."A pregnancy is not always the result of a consensual act. My opponent did not challenge my statement on the BoPs, and by doing so, he accepted that he must prove that all abortions, other than in cases where the life of the mother is in danger and the fetus is not yet viable, are immoral. Therefore, we are not only concerning ourselves with pregnancies as a result of consensual sex, but also pregnancies resulting from rape. It is wrong to force a woman who has been raped to suffer the emotional trauma of carrying the product from that horrifying experience for 9 months. This immorality can be justified through the following:P1: Forcing suffering is immoral.P2: Forcing a woman to carry out a pregnancy that is the product of rape is emotional suffering.Therefore, this is immoral. If a fetus was considered a human being, then we would have to weigh the immorality of the woman's suffering with the immorality of the killing of a human, but I have shown that abortion is not the killing of a full-fledged human. Therefore, it would be immoral to deny a raped woman an abortion. "The Substance View entails that we are the same substance that was in our mother's womb. You didn't come from an embryo, you once were an embryo."Is an egg a chicken?P3: Every successful abortion kills an unborn entity, a full fledged member of the human communityMy opponent himself can refute this point. He said at the beginning of R2 that abortion is most often the act of killing the embryo or fetus in order to remove it, but not always. Therefore, every successful abortion does not kill the unborn entity. It may just remove it, and because it is not viable outside the womb, the fetus dies. As for the second part of this premise, I already refuted that. ConclusionIn this round I refuted Pros' premises and therefore his conclusion. A quick review:1. Zygotes, embryos, and fetuses are not full-fledged humans, just as eggs are not chickens.2. There are cases when abortion is moral.3. Abortion does not kill a full fledged human.4. Therefore, abortion is not prima facie morally wrong.Additionally, I provided an example of a case where denying abortion would be immoral, so in the case of rape, abortion can be moral. In doing so, I fulfilled my BoP.The resolution is negated.I look forward to my opponent's response.Sources:[1]- http://en.wikipedia.org...[2]- http://www.guttmacher.org...