AAN Tour: Voluntary Abortion should be legal

I will present more about the problems with abortion and the reasons why it should not be legal by responding to Pro’s claims. Bodily rights. My opponent claims that this is about a woman's right not to donate her womb. But, as I established previously, whenever a woman consents to have sex with someone, she is consenting to the possibility of pregnancy. It is an occupational hazard. This is why I have chosen not to engage in that type of behavior until after I marry. My opponent then says that the baby has no right over the woman's body. We all know that the baby did not get there on its own and did not choose to be in the womb, the choice was made by the parents. An infant should not be held responsible for a decision she has no control over. Reproductive rights. We have already covered this issue before. Except in cases of rape, a woman consenting to the possibility. Whether she uses contraceptives or other methods, she is still exposing herself to that danger. A woman should not be surprised if a baby is the result of a physical union. The choice has been made. Personhood. Pro stated "Abortion is defined as the termination of the pregnancy, not the killing of the fetus" I would like to contest this with a legal definition. "Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by various methods, including medical surgery, before the fetus is able to sustain independent life. " (. http://definitions.uslegal.com...) This removal will certainly result in the death of the infant. But the baby is not just removed, it is torn apart. “[The doctor] has to dismember the foetus inside the uterus and pull it out, bit by bit…Even then, some body parts are too large to come out intact. ” (. http://www.dailymail.co.uk...) “Termination” glosses over what really happens. Seeing as even a natural birth terminates a pregnancy, by Pro’s definition every single person alive today, even you, was aborted. This definition is too broad and absurd. My definition is more specific, and more realistic. Pro wants to replace the infant with a grown adult to demonstrate the injustice of the situation. But this analogy is flawed. An adult has free choice where he lives and should pay rent. The baby has no choice. Rape. Rape often provides the default justification for abortion. Pregnancy without consent is very similar to rape. But, abortions motivated by nonconsensual sex are rare. As stated previously, pregnancy is a risk you are willingly consenting to in most cases. You can't have all the "fun" without the responsibility. My rights end where you're rights begin. For example, if there was a phone that was free, I could rightly take it. But if I took your phone, I would be stealing. As a living being, the baby has the right to live, and that should be respected. In this case, the woman’s rights are in conflict with the baby’s, and if her rights deprive the baby of his rights, it has just crossed the line. Babies are deprived of their rights on the sole basis that they are unborn. It doesn’t matter if the woman did not consent to pregnancy, she has no right to abort because it interferes with the baby’s rights. Psychological damage. Abortion does have many negative side effects. "Women who aborted have a 55% higher risk of mental health problems compared to women with an ‘unplanned’ pregnancy who gave birth. " (. http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org...) Also: "it was found that women who had an induced abortion had a five times higher rate of admission to hospital for psychiatric reasons in the following three months than women who had not undergone induced abortion. " (. http://abortionincanada.ca...) This problem is real, not a myth. 1. Illegal Abortions continuing. If theft is prevalent in an area, and people are getting hurt, is the correct course of action to legalize theft? Whether or not they will do it anyway must not be the reason we legalize it. Also, it is still safer to keep abortions illegal because of the long-term consequences. "Countries where abortion is illegal, such as Ireland, routinely have the lowest maternal mortality rates in the world, while areas with liberal abortion laws such as South Africa top the maternal mortality charts. " (. http://www.lifesitenews.com...) We are protecting women from long-term problems by keeping abortions illegal. 2. Safety. a. Money. Giving a surgery to fuse a cleft pallet is defending human rights, but giving a surgery to kill a baby is violating human rights. The UN says "Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings" (. http://www.ohchr.org...). A baby has the inherent right to live which is violated by abortion. b. Procedure. In an abortion, instruments are put deep into the woman's uterus to cut apart the baby and to vacuum out the parts. (. http://www.plannedparenthood.org...) c. Health damage. The womb is a delicate environment, and is easily nicked and scratched, causing permanent damage, and possible sterility. (. http://sbpfrc.com...) d. Loss of her child. As stated earlier, even if the child is not wanted, the mother feels the void it would have filled. e. Loss of her peace of mind. Previously addressed. f. Adding to tragedy. Women have negative emotional reactions to abortion which add to the emotional pain of a raped woman. g. Innocent life. The scientific definition of alive is: "Having life, in opposition to dead; living; being in a state in which the organs perform their functions. " (. http://www.biology-online.org...) A baby's heartbeat begins in the 5th week during the first trimester. (. http://www.babycenter.com...) The baby is alive. h. Civil Rights. "Personhood is the cultural and legal recognition of the equal and unalienable rights of human beings. " . http://www.personhoodusa.com...) The baby is a human, because both of the parents are human. The baby isn't a kitten, but a human who has personhood, and the right to life. i. Kills Child. If a pregnancy is terminated by the death of the infant, it is murder. j. Avoiding responsibility. Is it truly responsible to "get rid of the problem" by abortion? Woman should accept the risk and make the decision counting the cost. The baby should not be forced to accept all responsibility for his mother’s choices. Abortion is still more dangerous than child-birth, because of the long-term problems. "Microbiologist and bioethics commentator Gerard Nadal [said the] data fails to account for the physical damage often sustained by women during abortions, including damage to reproductive organs that has been strongly linked to subsequent pregnancy complications or even sterility. Meanwhile, he said, abortion’s link to increased risk of breast cancer, and childbirth’s protective effect against cancer, is ignored. " (. http://www.lifesitenews.com...) Under-reported damage. "Several pro-life doctors say that, because it fails to include the long-term adverse effects of abortions, the…claim that abortion’s mortality rate is lower misrepresents the overall effects of abortion on women versus bringing a child to term. ” (. http://www.lifesitenews.com...) The data is inconvenient and seldomly reported. Abortion damages the mother and damages the child. These actions have such serious consequences.