The pro-life position is not actually pro-LIFE

"That way, the resolution would be "the anti-abortion position is not actually pro-life." Otherwise, we just point out that it is a tautology." Fair enough. "While it is true that many people would look for danerous means of having an abortion, it is not true to assume that everyone that would get an abortion would be willing to subject themselves to that danger." I did not assume that everyone would be willing to subject themselves to that danger, the evidence of abortion in other countries shows that abortion rates do not drastically change regardless of the law. It's one of those issues that the people will continue to do, despite the law (kind of like how prohibition turned out). " In fact, the statistics show otherwise. Abortion became legal in the US in 1973 (Roe v Wade). In the first year that we have actual numbers (as oppossed to just estimates) the abortion rate was 16.3 per 1,000 women, and it rose 80% over the next 7 years, and to this day is still higher then that first year (although it has been slowly dropping and leveling off at around 20 per 1,000) [1]." Clearly, the number of abortions fluctuates, therefore we can not attribute the increase of abortion specifically to the law itself or the number of abortions would rise and then plateau. This means that other factors are involved that determine whether women abort or not, and not just the laws. For instance, the initial increase could be attributed to increased public acceptance of abortion, therefore the social stigma that would've prevented women from aborting no longer was operative. The decrease could be attributed to an increase in the access of contraception/education about sex. "We can see from nearly every study in the US, that the legalization of abortions caused the rate to increase, and so re-illegalizing it, will cause the rate to decrease again" You are making assumptions. First, there is no statement that indicates that the increase was due to the legalization of abortion. Other factors are involved, and may in fact be much more influential than the law itself. If the first is an assumption that may or may not be true, then the second must be mere assumption as well, which is shaky. Your links do not explain WHY there was an increase, you are making a guess. You have yet to provide evidence that the legalization of abortion was the driving factor behind the increase and not another factor, and you have not addressed the issue that the decrease was clearly NOT attributable to the actual law, but due to other factors. Let's take a look why women choose to abort. This study says this: "Most women in every age, parity, relationship, racial, income and education category cited concern for or responsibility to other individuals as a factor in their decision to have an abortion. In contrast to the perception (voiced by politicians and laypeople across the ideological spectrum) that women who choose abortion for reasons other than rape, incest and life endangerment do so for "convenience,"13 our data suggest that after carefully assessing their individual situations, women base their decisions largely on their ability to maintain economic stability and to care for the children they already have." http://www.guttmacher.org... If women are not aborting out of "convenience" then they are going to continue to have abortions, even when it is inconvenient. Women's reasons for aborting have little to do with the law, and everything to do with personal reasons. Outlawing abortion would simply make it more difficult for women to do what they felt best (if they decide they need to abort). If women truly feel that abortion is best for all parties involved (and clearly many, if not all do) then they will do what they have to get an abortion, legally or no. To continue with the study: "The concept of responsibility is inseparable from the theme of limited resources; given their present circumstances, respondents considered their decision to have an abortion the most responsible action. The fact that many women cited financial limitations as a reason for ending a pregnancy suggests that further restrictions on public assistance to families could contribute to a continued increase in abortions among the most disadvantaged women." http://www.guttmacher.org... If women are aborting for financial reasons, then they will also continue to abort even if it is illegal, simply because even an illegal abortion is must less costly than a born child. Another reason why illegalizing abortions would not decrease abortion. I have not yet seen an actual study that shows evidence for the idea that illegalizing abortion would result in less abortion. Instead there are credible studies that show that increased free contraception, etc, actually WOULD decrease abortion. "Although the focus of this study was women's reasons for having abortions, our findings have broader implications regarding the burden of unwanted pregnancy and the need for increased access to and use of contraceptive services. Better access to emergency contraception, for example, could lead to a reduction in unintended pregnancy, a decrease in the national abortion rate and, on the individual level, a decline in the number of women confronted with the difficult decision of how to resolve an unwanted pregnancy. The fact that an increasing proportion of women having abortions are poor16 underscores the importance of public assistance for family planning programs as an effective means of reducing the incidence of both unintended pregnancy and abortion." http://www.guttmacher.org... I used this study quite a bit because it is a study with legitimate sources and format that make it more credible than an article. Lastly, WHO studies says that oulawing abortion does not decrease rates of abortion: "comprehensive global study of abortion has concluded that abortion rates are similar in countries where it is legal and those where it is not, suggesting that outlawing the procedure does little to deter women seeking it." http://www.nytimes.com... My other sources that I show also suggest much the same thing. I have studies to support my claims, Con has yet to provide any. In conclusion: Con makes the assumption that the increase in abortion was due solely to making abortion illegal (which by no means is actually supported or refuted by the evidence he linked). Therefore, to make the assumption that outlawing abortion would decrease abortion is illogical. Women's reasons for abortion do not relate to the laws nearly as much as pro-lifers claim. Women abort for a diverse number of reasons that would not change depending on the law, therefore making it illogical again that women would truly be deterred by outlawing abortion. If this logic is not good enough for Con, then I have several studies that indicate clearly that the legality of abortion has little to no effect on the actual number of abortions (even in worldwide studies). Anti-abortion laws do not decrease the number of fetuses being aborted in the rest of the world, therefore anti-abortion laws would not decrease the number of fetuses aborted in the US. In my first post, I listed several studies that not only showed that abortions are not decreased by outlawing abortion, but actually cause more death because the deaths of mothers inveritably happen much more frequently when obtaining an illegal abortion. The evidence stands: an anti-abortion position is not pro-LIFE.