Public Health Concerns Justify Compulsory Immunization

The Value is Justice defined as fairness. Justice is a prerequisite to any other value. Anything applied unjustly has no value. For example Equality can be achieved by equal oppression. Before it holds value for itself, equality must be just. This can be applied to any other value as well. The criterion is deconstructing biopolitical classism. Deconstructing Biopolitical Classism is a necessary component to justice because no values can be conceptualized with marginalizing policies. If groups of people are marginalized then, by definition we cannot achieve fairness. Furthermore a state with exclusionary policy reaffirms social hierarchies perpetuating the idea of bio-political dominance. C1. Compulsory Immunization makes worse the Problem of Class discrimination By definition a compulsory action must have a punishment. Otherwise the action is no longer "compulsory" but "recommended" If there was no punishment for breaking laws then following them would no longer become compulsory. My argument is that the affirmative mindset will be furthering the marginalization of lower classed by placing them in a system of perpetual punishment. Low-income communities will be directly hurt by compulsory immunization policies due to decreased access to medical care. Brietta R. Clark in 2005 [1] explains. This fear is neither atypical nor irrational in light of one of the most visible, yet ignored, problems for minority communities - hospital closures and relocations. Increasingly, hospitals, private and public, have closed or terminated services in areas populated by minorities, while relocating services to more affluent, predominantly white neighborhoods. These closures have primarily occurred in urban areas with the greatest need and least resources. Remaining hospitals willing to care for minorities or the poor are either located far enough away that timely care is effectively foreclosed or they are already overburdened and understaffed. Hospital closings and the disintegration of a medical framework is already an issue faced by the poor. Compulsory Immunization Policies will make this worse. Clark ‘05 continues The magnitude of the harm suffered by minority communities may not be immediately obvious because our health care system is a complex patchwork of private and public actors without clearly defined duties hospital closures can trigger a domino effect that threatens longer term access and quality of care for remaining hospitals, and the maintenance of a quality primary care network of providers for minority communities. Compulsory immunization programs will increase the strain on the remaining medical facilities making care almost impossible. These immunization programs would force low-income families to either travel to receive care or wait in line for hours to maybe receive a vaccination before supplies are exhausted. Only limited amounts of vaccines can be stored by a medical facility at a time and if the facility is already overcrowded the increased strain will push it over the edge. Now Lets go to the Affirmative case. Definitions are fine. On the value of sensibility. 1. No warrant. Sensibility is not an important value. Justify according to my opponents definition of justify he has a burden to prove an action to be just or right. Thus justification requires an appeal to meta-ethical values. 2. To justify an action is to prove an action to be just. Thus my value justice is textually warranted over my opponents. On the Criterion: 1. Not defined. The aff did not present a criterion that was clearly articulated. If there is no explicit criterion it becomes impossible to impact back to anything. 2. Medical professionals disagree, there is no clear standard of medical "rightness" we can appeal to. Thus the Criterion lacks any sort of brightline. If both my opponent and I quote a medical professional regarding the issue of compulsory immunization who wins? Thus not only does the criterion lack a brightline, weighing mechanism but also a link back to the value. Contention 1: 1. My opponent claims his quotes are from the three most respected "go-to" professional organizations yet never explains why this is true. 2. The resolution does not state "immunizations are good" I would agree with that statement. However, it says "Public Health Concerns Justify COMPULSORY immunizations" none of these quotes actually explain why compulsory immunizations are a good thing, the merely explain why the concept of immunizations is good. There is a huge difference. Contention 2: The affirmative argues that immunizations are "common sense" and thus we should affirm the resolution. However there is something wrong with this statement. It may seem common sense to my opponent and other but not everyone. There is the issue of class discrimination I talked about in my case. To these people it may not be "common sense" My opponent in this contention actually further magnifies the harms of my case. I criticize the otherization and marginalization of the lower classes and my opponent makes a statement that furthers shows the view that the lower classes are "the Other" and what is sensible for me is sensible for them. You(the judge) ought to vote neg off this alone. In rejection of this idea. Contention 3: My opponent says that "those who are able, cannot justify failing to receive immunization." This may be so however there are those who are unable and he resolution is on COMPULSORY immunization meaning those people would be locked into an endless cycle of state punishment furthering the problem of biopolitical classism. Thus the Resolution must be negated. [1] Brietta R. Clark, 2005 (Associate Professor of Law, Loyola Law School; J.D. University of Southern California Law School; B.A. University of Chicago, "Disentangling Fact From Fiction: The Realities Of Unequal Health Care Treatment: Article: Hospital Flight From Minority Communities: How Our Existing Civil Rights Framework Fosters Racial Inequality In Healthcare," DePaul Journal of Health Care Law 2005 9 DePaul J. Health Care L. 1023 pg nexis//ef)