Abortion is Generally Immoral

Premise 1A clarification must be made. My opponent seems to be confusing human as in homo sapien and human being as in a full-fledged person. It is clear that we can say that a fetus is a Homo Sapien, in contrast to another species. But just because we would classify the preborn in one species rather than another, does not mean that the preborn are a full-fledged member of that species. So my opponent has proven that the unborn are part of our species, not that they are full-fledged humans. He has yet to fully fulfill his BoP and prove that the unborn are more than potential."Con has not offered any reasons to believe that viability is the appropriate measure of considering someone a full-fledged human."Fetus's are not full fledged humans. Full-fledged implies existing in the entirety of something. A fetus that cannot live if it is separated from the umbilical cord has the potential to be a full-fledged human, but is not yet a full-fledged human.Let P= the potential for something, S= the something that came from the potential, U= unborn.P does not equal S.U is P.Therefore, U does not equal S.Quite simple. A fetus is the potential to be a full-fledged human. Potential for full human life is not the same as full human life. This is a human zygote:http://www.ehd.org...According to my opponent, this is a full-fledged human. This is an absolutely ridiculous claim. We can see that this zygote is nothing like a full-fledged human being. This is the potential for a human being. This is not a human being."From fertilization, the unborn are full-fledged members of the species Homo Sapiens."We can classify the unborn as a Homo Sapien. My opponent must prove that this is a full-fledged human being. He has not done so. There is a difference between full-fledged human life, and full-fledged humanity.My opponent continues by offering two more quotes claiming that zygotes are humans. The first one is indeed true, a zygote is the beginning of a new human being, but this does not prove that a zygote is a full-fledged human being.The second quote is also correct in saying that there is no point at which we can say "This was not a human being, but right now is when it changes." The same is true in evolution. We cannot say "This was not a new species, but this is the generation that is an entirely new species." Nature does not give us these markers, we must create them ourselves. In evolutionary biology, we can say that a new species has arisen when it cannot produce viable offspring with another animal. It is absolutely ridiculous to say that the above picture is a picture of full-fledged human life. "Saying an egg is not a chicken is like saying a womb is not a human. Of course it's not, but it's a part of the human. The womb contains the growing/developing human embryo, just as a chicken egg contains a growing/developing chicken embryo."This does not matter. The analogy can just as easily be stated as the contents of the egg. My point still stands."Furthermore, a seed may not be a plant, but it is a developing plant, just as an embryo is a developing human (but still a human)."And here, my opponent looses. He concedes that a seed is not a plant, but a developing plant. He continues by saying just as an embryo a developing human. This is covered with an afterthought stating that it is still a human, but the pitfall is shown through the logic that was demonstrated previously. Potential does not equal the result, by the very definitions of the words. If my opponent is arguing that an embryo is a developing human, but still a Homo Sapien, then that is fine. But those are two different things as I have already shown. " It is simply incorrect to state that human life begins before fertilization, even though the process is begun before fertilization."I was not saying that human life begins before fertilization, merely that life exists before fertilization. "But being a full-fledged member of humanity is not something that changes. You're either a full-fledged human or you're not."I disagree. Just like in evolution there is not a point where you are either one species or you are not. There is not a point when you are a human being or not. It is a gradual process. I've just said an awful lot so I'd like to summarize it:1. My opponent concedes that an embryo is the potential full-fledged humanship.2. By definition, potential does not equal result.3. Therefore, an embryo does not equal full-fledged humanship.Premise 1 falls. Premise 2"But allowing her to abort the child would not cause her to forget the rape, and it would never take the pain away. "It is easy to see how carrying a result from rape for 9 months would be a terrible experience. So, no, it would not take the rape away, but it would be saving her from a terrible, unnecessary pain."Why should the child pay with her life for the crimes of her father?"This is utterly ridiculous. The picture from above is not a child. The zygote does not suffer. The embryo does not suffer. It is not a child to begin with."Since abortions cannot currently be performed without killing the child, it is not morally justified to kill the child."It is not a child. A very brief review:It's not yet a child. Look at the picture. We can't kill a child if it isn't a child. I also gave an example of a moral abortion. I have fulfilled my BoP.Premise 3"I said abortion are most often the act of killing the embryo or fetus. This is because there are abortion pills, like RU-486, that merely prevent implantation. In that case, the embryo is not actively killed (but I would argue is still immoral)."The resolution was not limited to surgical abortions. "However, even if you removed the embryo from the environment in which he must survive, you are still actively killing the embryo."My opponent just contradicted himself. Premise 3 is defeated because my opponent contradicted himself. ConclusionPremise 1: Potential does not equal result. The premise is dead.The resolution is in tatters. I look forward to my opponent's response.He must still prove that a zygote (see the picture) is a full-fledged human being.