Adolescents ought to have the right to make autonomous medical choices

Because Ought implies moral obligation and a right is something morally and legally owed to you, I value morality. Prefer morality as a whole to just autonomy argument since morality covers autonomy and more, so it's more inclusive of all rights. You can't say that autonomy isn't more important than, say, equality - only the neg values all rights so prefer morality to just autonomy. The Standard is preserving rights. The Counterplan Text: The aff adolescents will consult with pediatric psychologists before determining whether particular children will be able to make autonomous medical choices. The recommendations of those psychologists will be strictly followed. Since we're following what the pediatrician says, there is no autonomy, so the CP is inherently different from the aff. C1: Consultation leads to more specific decisions and increased family communication. http://jpepsy.oxfordjournals.org... There are unique roles for pediatric psychologists in the process of determining children's involvement in medical decision making. First, pediatric psychologists can provide knowledge regarding child and adolescent development, as well as quality of life issues, for their medical colleagues (e.g., Kent, 1994). Similarly, they can assess developmental and clinical issues for the determination of children's level of involvement. Third, pediatric psychologists can make specific recommendations regarding particular children's level of involvement. Finally, pediatric psychologists can facilitate doctor-parent-child communication. Specifically, they can help parents and physicians understand children's concerns; help physicians understand parents' uncertainty and anxiety; and help parents understand physicians' goals. And, family communication is crucial during adolescence because the adolescent's mind is still forming and needs a stable life to operate. C2: When Adolescents Make Their Own Choices, They Act Impulsively http://www.ncsl.org... The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice has conducted psychosocial and developmental research that has corroborated the neurobiological research on adolescent brains; the research has yielded the conclusion that decision-making capabilities are diminished in adolescents. Although the MacArthur Research Network"s study shows that basic cognitive abilities and intellectual maturity mirror adults" by the time adolescents reach age 16, advanced cognition and psychosocial development continue into the 20s. With diminished advanced cognition, including the ability to reason and to understand, adolescents are more vulnerable to psychosocial and emotional influences. Coupled with their lack of experience and inefficiency in processing information, adolescents are less capable than adults of making decisions. The MacArthur Research Network"s social science and developmental psychology research identifies psychosocial and developmental factors unique to adolescents that inhibit their decision-making capabilities. First, adolescents are more receptive and responsive to the influences and opinions of their peers than those of adults, although this varies by age group within the general juvenile population. (...) Developmentally, adolescents also tend to be more impulsive and emotional"they are more inclined to make impulsive decisions, engage in impulsive behavior, and act recklessly compared to adults. Harvard Medical School"s Dr. Deborah Yurgelun Todd explains that adolescents tend to act and react more impulsively because they rely more on the area of the brain that generates emotional gut reactions, rather than trying to thoroughly analyze and rationalize. So Adolescents will engage in risks and make bad decisions, which is reasons they should not choose for themselves. If rights are important and the adolescents will make bad decisions and restrict their own freedom, you have to vote neg. Plus, the Impacts can be disastrous. http://divorcescience.org...- divorce/ Mary Julia Moore and Cheryl Buehler studied a group of middle school children over a 4-year period through early adolescence to examine the ways in which their behavior influenced the behavior of their parents. In particular, they were interested in the ways that problem behaviors may influence their parents" likelihood of divorce. The scientists were interested in testing the pathway through which troublesome adolescent behavior may undermine the parents" marriage. They hypothesize that when teenagers have trouble, this undermines parents" feelings of effectiveness in parenting which may influence mothers or fathers to be less supportive to each other in trying to deal with the problem behavior. This hypothesis makes sense based on other scientific evidence and it all makes commonsense. If a parents feels like they are not getting their partner"s support in dealing with their teen challenging behavior, this seems likely to trigger feelings of resentment and overall distress. All of which might lead to questions about one"s marriage. The scientist measured adolescents" problem behavior when they were in the 6th grade. They measured both antisocial and hostile behaviors as well as behaviors such as depression. Both mothers and fathers were asked questions about whether they had thought about divorce and other questions to get a sense of their divorce proneness and questions about their sense of effectiveness as a parent. The analyses examined whether adolescent behaviors predicted parents" divorce proneness 4 years later. The sample in this study was primarily White and had some college education. Some caution should be noted that these findings may not apply to all types of families. As the scientists had expected, adolescents" problem behaviors had a significant effect on the couple"s divorce proneness. This effect appears to be primarily through damage to mothers" and fathers" feelings about their parenting abilities. This is especially true for fathers; fathers who have difficulty managing their teen"s behavior feel badly and may give up trying to be a parent. The scientists also found that mothers and fathers" feelings of effectiveness as parents influenced each other as well; when one parent was feeling less effective, the other, more effective parent begin thinking about divorce. It seems like when one parent gives up on trying to help manage the difficult behavior, the other parent perceives this as a lack of support. This lack of support seems to damage the marital relationship. These findings remind us of the complexity of family relationships. All members of the family have an influence on each other. This can run in a positive direction or in a negative direction. Bad decisions by the kids damage marital relations, which is bad for everyone involved. For all these reasons, you are going to be voting negative. Thank you.