Abortion is wrong

==================== The "SAD FACTS" ==================== Wow, interesting facts. I suspect it was all copy-pasted? But that's besides the point. Your entire list of "sad facts" can be all piled into the one very nice package: the appeal to emotion. It's committed when someone "manipulates peoples' emotions in order to get them to accept a claim as being true"[1]. How can I claim that you are committing the fallacy, and not just making an interesting introduction? Simply by the first sentence of your argument: "These facts show that abortion certainly is murder.". No, these facts show that you are committing a fallacy. ==================== Whether or not abortion is murder ==================== {quote}In fact, over half of the American population consider abortion as murder{endquote} ---->So? Just because the majority believes in something doesn't make it true. In fact, you should be at least familiar with argumentum ad populum, which states that someone is committing a fallacy "when attempting to prove a conclusion on the grounds that all or most people think or believe it is true"[2]. My argument is that abortion is NOT murder, because a fetus is not a person. A person is an organism that is self-aware, meaning it has a developed brain of sorts, and can be aware of it's environment and of itself intrinsically. Because a fetus does not fulfill these requirements, it is NOT a person. Because it's not a person, it's not murder, which is defined as "the unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice"[3]. My opponent may try to distinguish a human from a person, but there is none in relevance to this debate. While not all persons are humans, all humans are persons. ==================== Potential of fetuses' and other various aspects ==================== {quote}Abortion is taking away future progress and people who can possibly end up doing miraculous things...[abortion] takes away fetuses that have the ability to do great things to benefit mankind in the future.{endquote} ---->So should masturbation be illegal? Because every time I spill my "seeds", I could have possibly done away with political figures or award-winning scientists as well. See the problem here? And secondly, what if it was murderers, dictators, and terrorists who were "done away" with rather than good-doers? Would it then be a moral thing for me to do? No, we can't tell anyway, so judging abortion on such silly ideas like this is useless. {quote}Abortion is...an act of violence against the unborn child as well as the woman about to have a baby{endquote} ---->So if I kick a flower, which is an act of violence, I should be arrested? Of course not. That would be silly, as would thinking that abortion is wrong because it may seem "violent". And how is it an act of violence against the woman when it is SHE who consents to the abortion (most abortions are like that obviously - we aren't talking about a forced abortion). {quote}Abortion was considered as a sin in many religions till some years ago. Children are a gift of god, and the parents are just the people who take care of them, God's gift...Simply put, this means that a child has been brought on earth, he or she should be given a full chance to live a life, as God must have planned something for them.{quote} ---->God doesn't exist, ergo this argument has no weight. ==================== The psychological, medical, and emotional aspects of abortion ==================== {quote}An abortion plays havoc with the psychology and the future life of the entire family. The woman who has lost her child, at any time between the pregnancy, will never be the same.{quote} ---->Sometimes, having an abortion is hard. Sure. But it is the choice of the mother, therefore it's her right to. Just because it makes everyone sad, doesn't mean it's wrong. If I decide to marry a girl who my family doesn't like, is it morally wrong of me to do so? No. If I become an atheist, and the rest of my family are adamant Christians, is it morally wrong of me to do so? No. Same analogy with abortion. Concerning the medical related aspects, I am starting to have stronger suspicions that you have simply copy-pasted this argument. Either that, or you really aren't paying attention to the resolution: abortion is wrong. Just because something is dangerous DOES NOT MEAN it's morally wrong. Is skydiving morally wrong? Is sports morally wrong? No and no. So how do we fix these problems with abortion? Acceptance and technology. By pursuing more into the science of abortions, we can come out with better and safer ways of abortion. By making it acceptable amongst the public, we can help the process of science. {quote}...it is a fact that almost ninety percent of the abortions taking place in the United States of America are illegal.{quote} ---->Because people like you make abortion seem to evil! If abortion were to be accepted as NOT being wrong, then your usual pregnant teen will not resort to such measures. Also, it's because of bills who warn underage teen's parents of when an abortion is happening that also leads to more kids going through illegal abortions. It's interesting when your own argument backfires. =================== Conclusion =================== My opponent's argument contains tons of red herrings, and is overall barely effective. He rarely gets into the ethical aspects of abortion, and until he can actually focus his arguments, I have nothing much to refute. I wait his response. ---References--- 1. http://www.nizkor.org... 2. http://philosophy.lander.edu... 3. http://www.thefreedictionary.com...