Abortion should be made illegal in the United States.

As brought up in the comments section, this round is only for refutation of your opponent's arguments only, so I shall spend this round discussing them. Rebuttal 1: Abortion is not murder. Before we dive into the argument let's look at some definitions. 1st Degree Murder- the killing of a human being by a sane person, with intent, malice aforethought (prior intention to kill the particular victimor anyone who gets in the way)2nd Degree Murder- Second degree murder is such a killing withoutpremeditation, as in the heat of passion or in a sudden quarrel or fight.Quickening Murder- Death of an unborn child who is "quick" (fetus is moving) can be murder, [8]We can already see here that if the unborn child is killed who is quick it could be interpereted as murder. This in itself disproves my opponent's own argument. We can also look to see that my opponent is unspecific in her definitons, so I can easily select something that is the latest form of abortion and show that it should be illegal and win the debate via semantics. My opponent brings up that everything the mother does affects the baby which is an automatic statement that they are awhere of what they are doing, so if they do drugs or get crunk, then they can easily kill the child. Under my opponent's logic, they were aware of this and had thus, killed the child and committed murder. There's also intent to kill the child when you head to the abortion clinic or try an abortion at home. This is another case of murder as it shows that there was intent and it was even premeditated, this is another sign of murder.Contention 2: Abortion is Choice The evaluation of life, as defined by Biologists, is done by locating Signs or Characteristics all life possess. While no full list is accepted on a universal scale, at least twelve characteristics are generally used in Biology, often in lists of five or seven. They are as followed: Organization: Defined as composing of cells. Genes: To consist of DNA and RNA. Adaption: Changing to match the environment around it. Homeostasis: Maintaining a consistent internal environment. Metabolism: Sometimes called Thermodynamics, it’s the transformation and use of energy. Response: To react to stimuli or to the environment around it. Reproduction: To be able reproduce or bear children. Growth: To grow in size, usually referred to as Cell Growth. Excretion: Removing wasted from the organism’s body. Respiration: The intake of gases needed to live. Feeding: The consumption of resources to live. Movement: The ability to move that even plants have.The Characteristics of Life are used to measure whether or not something is alive or non-living. As with any measurement, the unit of measurement must match the thing being measured. It is completely useless to measure weight in inches, thus showing my opponent's umbrella is irrelivant and this is the proper measurement. For that reason, we have to use these Characteristics used to determine life among single-celled organisms to determine if a Zygote is really alive. Measuring a Zygote by the standards of a full grown, multi-celled organism would be a fraudulent means to determine it not living, sadly too often successfully used to do so. It is well known among biologists that the fetus responses to external stimuli. At what week it begins to react is not known, and no estimates are universally accepted. [4]A test performed in the early 20th century, studying the effects of sound on fetuses found considerable amounts of data on the subject. The Fetus does react to sound and other stimuli. [5]This is seen again in the study of 100 Dutch women, where the fetus responds to sound before adapting to it. [6] In the study mentioned in the prior segment, the researchers used noise to test the fetus, and found that the fetus would stop responding. It adapted to the noise through habituation or sensitization. These are primitive forms of memory, but the fetus did nonetheless adapt to and remembered the noise. There is other research that suggests the fetus adapts to stress. This adaptation usually involves increased maturation in the Brain and Lungs. [7]Being able unable to reproduce only means you aren’t fully developed or that your development was messed up, but you can still be alive. So how does one handle this characteristic? A good move would be to accept that this characteristic need only be found in one’s species. Of course, we could also use information from Vorvick and Stork to conclude that, on a cellular level, the zygote is reproducing. [8] Starting as a single cell, the Zygote begins cell division (reproduction). This mean that, for the first few weeks, the fetus is capable of fulfilling the reproduction characteristic. For the sake of reason, we will conclude that after the fetus reaches a certain level of development, where cellular development is less as an issue, cellular reproduction no longer counts. We will also conclude that once living, a fetus can’t die and come back to life months later. The fetus reproduces as a cell, and afterwards, is protected by the principle that it’s already fulfilled its criteria, and that reproduction need only be a specie’s characteristic. Last round I have already posted many of these reason on how the fetus is alive by adding on to it as they help prove this point. The fetus does not breathe through its mouth, but through its umbilical cord. The Mother inhales, and the oxygen is sent to the fetus through the placenta. The placenta then transports the CO2 back to the Mother via the same means. [1] This would call us to ask whether this counts as Respiration. The answer is simple. Yes. As mentioned in the criteria, respiration is not about means and ways. It’s about bringing in a gas to live, and Fetus does bring in gas. While it doesn’t ‘breathe,’ it does require and take in oxygen. It should be noted that the heart begins to beat just 10 days after implementation, during the first and second week. [2] This is around the time it’s begins receiving nutrients and oxygen from the Mother. As discussed in the prior sections, once the placenta is finished forming, the fetus begins receiving oxygen and nutrients (same as the last source). By receiving nutrient from the Mother by week 1-2, the fetus fulfills the criteria needed for Feeding. As stated, it is not a matter of means. The fetus need not eat much the same as an adult. It need only require and take in nutrients. The fetus does this via the umbilical cord. Prior to conception, the two human Gametes, Sperm and Egg, each contain one pair of Chromosomes, for a total of 23 chromosomes each, or 46 pair together. During fertilization, the two sets merge, forming 23 pairs of Chromosome. After Fertilization, the diploid cell, a zygote, that is formed contains a full set of 46 human Chromosomes. [3] Even at conception, the zygote contains Genes.It doesn't matter whether Lejune is Catholic or a Santanist, he is still creidtable source to site. Saying otherwise is like saying that we can't site John Locke on Philosophy because he's a philosopher. Further on my opponent states that just because something is a live doesn't mean that it's a human. However if we observe the works of John Locke we can see that he supports the right to Life. Let's look at his writtings." The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another."Here we can see that the government is to protect the right for humans to live and if I have proven that the fetus is indeed alive then the federal government has no choice, but to protect them. We can see that no matter what amount of them they are and even down to a single just newly fertalized egg we can see that it has aquired human rights as it is now alive and the government must protect it. Locke also shows that They must protect them perserve everything from the infant's very limb's. I have posted a video to show what actually happens in these abortion and how it violates this philosophy. Sources1. (http://www.livestrong.com...) 2. (http://www.ehd.org...) 3. (http://www.healthline.com...) 4. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...) 5. (http://www.jstor.org...) 6. (http://abcnews.go.com...) 7. (http://abcnews.go.com...) 8. (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com...)