Rape Should Not Be An Exception In Abortion Policy

Thanks to MasturDbtor for this interesting challenge. As Pro clarified in round 1, this debate is not about what abortion policy should be but rather about whether rape should be considered an exception in it. My burden is to show that the issue of women being impregnated by rape gives justification to overturn the decision to outlaw abortion in those circumstances. As long as I show that the justification exists and is reasonable, my burden should be considered satisfied. Arguments for and against abortion In order to better understand whether there is justification to overturn the illegality of abortion in the particular circumstance implied by the resolution, we must first understand the arguments that lead to it. What makes abortion one of the most hotly contested issues in the world is the fact that there are very compelling arguments for both sides. I personally think that our perspectives on abortion typically begin with whether we view a human fetus as a life that was meant for the world, or a lifeless fetus whose existence is yet to be decided. I believe that our views on this particular issue dictate which arguments for or against abortion we will ultimately find compelling. However the answer to this question is merely philosophical, and will likely never be answered by science or any other objective measure. Being that we as a society will likely always have some level of disagreement on this issue, we can not enforce laws based solely on either of these positions. Laws must be based on factual arguments. In abortion, there are two main facts which are not debatable: (1) A human fetus is a potential human life, abortion ends that potential. (2) A human fetus must remain part of the mother through a certain period of its development in order to survive. It is from these two main facts that the debate, and ultimately the decision on the legality of abortion is determined. When it comes to point 1 there are many arguments to make regarding whether the fetus is considered a life or not, but I find those arguments irrelevant to this debate. What is relevant here is the dependence that the fetus has to the mother. Those who take the side of Pro-choice are people who may see a high value in protecting the life of the fetus, but believe that the right of a women to choose what she does with her own body has a higher value. And although Pro-lifers may feel the life of the fetus has a higher value, no reasonable person would deny that outlawing abortion takes this right away from the mother. Legal or Illegal? Pro claims that if abortion is illegal, it is predicated on the fetus being a human person with inalienable rights. As my argument has so far shown, this is false. Although there will always be some who perceive this to be a necessary truth, from a legal perspective the outlawing of abortion is predicated on the conclusion that the value of a human fetus outweighs the value of a women’s right to choose what she can do with her own body. However the value of this right is dependant on certain factors concerning the nature of the pregnancy. Under normal circumstances where a women is impregnated through her own decisions and actions, Pro-lifers will often argue that a women who became pregnant did so because of her own irresponsibility. This justifies removing her rights to her body to protect the rights of the unborn child who has done nothing wrong. This is one of the strongest arguments for outlawing abortion, as the factor of consequence is one of the foundational principles of society. That is that those who make mistakes must suffer the consequences for them. This argument however does not apply to a female who was raped. In this scenario the women has done nothing wrong, and therefore there is no warrant for removing her right to choose. Moreover, removing such right would place additional emotional trauma on the victim by having to now carry the child of the man who committed this terrible crime against her. Forcing a women to give up her right to choose and endure this trauma when she has done nothing wrong is not reasonable. Based on this it is easy to see why rape should be an exception to abortion law.