Abortion

Thank you for challenging me to this debate and welcome to debate.org! Since con has not proposed a resolution to the debate, I would like to propose the following resolution: "Resolved: Abortion should be legal in the United States." DefinitionsAbortion: A procedure that ends an undesired pregnancy by removing the fetus and placenta from the mother's womb (uterus). (1)Zygote: A cell in diploid state following fertilization or union of haploid male sex cell (e.g. sperm) and haploid female sex cell (e.g. ovum). (2) Fetus: An unborn offspring, from the embryo stage (the end of the eighth week after conception, when the major structures have formed) until birth (3).Contention 1: Abortion is sometimes medically necessaryAs a pre-medical student, there have been many cases that I have read about and studied in which abortion was the only option available. In her WashingtonPost editorial, Rebecca Cohen recounted her story as to why she had an abortion after 20-weeks. She writes (4):"At 20 weeks, my husband and I went for our favorite prenatal visit: the detailed ultrasound anatomy scan that shows your baby’s heart, kidneys, bladder, stomach, spine and brain and whether you’re having a girl or a boy. I could barely contain myself as I sat on the exam table, eager to meet our baby more intimately. My husband and I chit-chatted with the ultrasound technician, gabbing and laughing when we recognized familiar features on the ultrasound images.""I had a choice. I could try to live with the husk of a child inside of me for more than 100 days, swallowing tears at every cheery inquiry as I grew bigger. Or I could have an abortion. And the choice wasn’t just about me. I have young children who would have had to see their mother endure this torture and give birth to someone they would never meet. So we made the painful, but I believe merciful, decision to terminate."In the most extreme cases, abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother. As the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes: "Abortions are necessary in a number of circumstances to save the life of a woman or to preserve her health. Unfortunately, pregnancy is not a risk-free life event." (5)As RoyLatham noted in his debate with Contradiction, "In these cases, the life of the mother is universally placed above that of the fetus. This means that no one, or almost no one, considers the lives morally equivalent. So, does such universal agreement prove that they are not morally equivalent? It does, because while we cannot decide the shape of the earth by an opinion poll, morally reflects human nature. While there are many moral disagreements, we be assured that near-universal agreement on the immorality of things like murder and theft means those, at least, are features of natural law." (6)Contention 2: A fetus is not morally equivalent to a human beingFreeman notes in his debate (8):"A fetus may be a human in the biological sense, but it is not a person. According to philosopher Marry Anne Warren, the most plausible characteristics for personhood are mental in nature. Since a fetus does not possess any significant mental qualities, it can rightfully not be considered a person with a serious right to life. My argument can thus be summed up as follows:P1: Only a person has a right to life.P2: An entity is a person if it has (1) consciousness, (2) the capacity to reason, (3) self-motivated activity, (4) the capacity to communicate messages, and (5) the presence of self-concepts.P3: A human fetus does not have properties (1-5).P4: Therefore, a human fetus is not a person. (from 2 and 3)C: Therefore, a human fetus does not have a right to life. (from 1 and 4)"Contention 3: Spontaneous AbortionsAccording to MedlinePlus, an online medical information website ran by the NIH, "Around half of all fertilized eggs die and are lost (aborted) spontaneously, usually before the woman knows she is pregnant. Among women who know they are pregnant, 15 to 20 out of every 100 will have a miscarriage. Most miscarriages occur during the first 7 weeks of pregnancy. The rate of miscarriage drops after the baby's heartbeat is detected." (9) RoyLatham writes in his debate:"No one considers spontaneous abortion of zygotes or blastocysts as morally significant. Generally no one knows they happen, and no one thinks it important to find out. If mature humans are lost in, say, mountain climbing accidents or airline crashes in remote areas, serious attempts are made to find the remains so that they can be given funerals and honored according the tradition of their families. Yet, no heroic attempts are made using modern science to locate spontaneously aborted zygotes so they can be given proper funerals. There is no demand for microscopic caskets or burial plots. The reason is that they are not morally equivalent to mature humans, and that is universally recognized." (10)| Conclusion |In conclusion, a fetus is not a human being that would qualify it to any moral right to life. Furthermore, abortion is sometimes medically necessary to save the life of a mother, among other things. Therefore, abortion is both morally permissible and should be legally in the U.S.Over to con! Sources1. http://tinyurl.com...;2. http://tinyurl.com...;3. http://tinyurl.com...;4. http://tinyurl.com...;5. http://tinyurl.com...;6. http://tinyurl.com...;8. http://tinyurl.com...;9. http://tinyurl.com...;10. See source 6