Abortion Should be Made Illegal in the United States

While I feel I have been misled on this topic, I will continue debating it. I would like to clarify a few things before I move to my main points. Subpoint A: This has been defeated by my opponent "clarifying" the topic Subpoint B: This WAS NOT defeated. My opponent seems to realize this, as he has made a defense for it, which I will discuss later. Defense 3: This was a response to an issue my opponent brought up. Thus if this is defeated by the "clarification" his original point on rape is also non-topical and should not be a voting issue. Now to move on to the "line-by-line". =========================== Subpoint B =========================== Point 1: My opponent claims the right to life is more important than the right to dignity. This is untrue, I will explain this later. Point 2: My opponent said this is not topical because the topic is: "Abortion Should Be Made Illegal in the United States Except in the Cases of Rape or Grave Danger to Mother or Fetus". This doesn't defeat my point. My point was, the doctor will know ahead of time that a child will have a serious disease after being born (mental retardation, etc.) Not because of the abortion. The abortion is not a "grave danger to the mother or fetus". This is still topical. So, again, the child will be born WITHOUT DIGNITY and will have to live their life without dignity. Extend this point. Point 3: This point still remains even with your added statistical analysis. As I said previously, there are 1.21 million abortions are performed a year [1]. Again, 57% are economically disadvantaged. [1] That's 689,700. Now, 50% are not the mother's fault (45% rape (your stat) and 5% condom breakage [2]). That's still 344,850 people A YEAR. So, if we ban abortions, every year 344,850 mothers and 344,850 children are going to be stripped of their dignity. Extend this. Ending up on the street: First, the baby will not have any dignity, which is more important than life, which I will explain later. Second, not only will the baby not have any dignity, neither will the mother. The mother is being stripped of her dignity because she was forced to have a baby. =========================== Argument 2 =========================== You have not directly addressed my argument. Let me restate my argument: banning abortions will lead to back-alley abortions, which are bad. "We know that someone will break a law, such as murdering someone. Since we know someone will eventually murder someone because of their free will, does that mean we should just do away with the law?" Missing the point. Banning abortions leads to back-alley abortions. The way in which the law will be circumvented is very important. "Are illegal abortions unsafe? Yes. Is sticking a scalpel, potassium chloride shot, or vacuuming a fetus unsafe? Yes." My opponent has provided no evidence for this claim. Current abortions are very safe, only 1 serious complication for ever 200 abortions [3]. As I stated before: "During this time [when abortions were illegal], hospital emergency room staff treated thousands of women who either died or were suffering terrible effects of abortions provided without adequate skill and care [back-alley abortions]." [4] My opponent has not refuted that banning abortions will lead to back-alley abortions. And he has only provided an evidence-less defense against back-alley abortions being unsafe. Thus we must assume, again, that banning abortions will lead to back-alley abortions, which are extremely unsafe. Extend this argument. =========================== Argument 3 =========================== Just another reason why Con has to provide sufficient warrant for banning abortions (more on this later). =========================== Defense 1 =========================== My opponent has conceded that fetuses are indeed not conscious. This is extremely important. Let me just state my quote again, as I feel it is very important: "a fetus doesn't possess enough neural structure to harbor consciousness until about 26 weeks, when it first seems to react to pain. Before that, the fetal neural structure is about as sophisticated as that of a sea slug and its EEG as flat and unorganized as that of someone brain-dead." [5] What makes a human, human? It is our ability to reason, and to be aware of ourselves. Fetuses "[don't] possess enough neural structure to harbor consciousness" [5] and "[it's] neural structure is about as sophisticated as that of a sea slug" [5] Why should a fetus who has no mental characteristics of a human (and can't even feel pain) be given the same rights as a full grown human? It shouldn't. =========================== Human Dignity =========================== Human dignity is the most important right of humans. What distinguishes humans from animals? Why are we simply not ape-like figures that roam the lands hunting for food off the ground? Because we have dignity. Without dignity we are the same as animals. Dignity is more important than life because an undignified life is not a life worth living. This is not a view I simply made up, it is held by countless philosophers throughout history. "Dan Egonsson, followed by Roger Wertheimer, argue that it is conventional for people to equate dignity with 'being human' (Egonsson's 'Standard Attitude', Wertheimer's 'Standard Belief')" [6] =========================== Burden of Proof =========================== In my first speech I said the following: "abortions are currently legal, and thus the burden of proof is on my opponent. My opponent has to provide SUFFICIENT WARRENT (good reason) why ABORTIONS MUST BE BANNED. If my opponent does not do this, I must win by default." My opponent has not contested this, and thus it is assumed to be true. My opponent's only reason is that you shouldn't have abortions because my opponent considers that killing a human. I have clearly outlined why fetuses are not humans and do not deserve the same rights as humans. In addition, I have provided multiple harms that banning abortions will cause. My opponent needs to account for these harms in order to win this round. Sources: [1] http://www.guttmacher.org... [2] http://www.avert.org... [3] http://www.todaysplanet.com... [4] http://www.prochoice.org... [5] http://www.slate.com... [6] http://en.wikipedia.org...