Abortion Should be Illegal.

Thank you for your response Charles, also let's also re-iterate as you have, that we're talking about fairly personal beliefs, so we'll both have to realise we're debating our point of view, not trying to turn it into a person attack at all. I'll also paraphrase my opponent's arguments to respond instead of quoting massive chunks. "Why should we use the excuse "it won't stop if we make it illegal" valid for abortion but support the same approach for drugs". It's a good question. I think this ties in towards my second main argument, but I'll expand on that later. I'd say there are key differences between drugs and abortion which changes my stance on each. Although you could certain argue the moral fabric of society is weakened from abortion I think we can both agree that drug's on the whole because a lot more practical harm to our society than abortion does. Some examples of this would easily be given by crime rates and violent attacks by those on drugs, or looking for money to buy them. This clearly does not stem from having abortion legalised. A second difference is based around the cost to our health system. Obviously abortion does take up some medical resources, but I think common sense also says that drug addiction is a much longer term problem, which can take up huge amount of medical resources. I'd also say that this analogy is perhaps better compared to say safe drug injection rooms. I'm not sure if these have been trailed / you have them in America, but the basic principle is that people can inject illegal drugs in a safe environment without persecution. It's along the lines of "I don't agree with what you are doing, but if you are going to do it, do it in a safe clean protected environment". I feel that making abortion illegal will simply turn women again to unsafe alternatives. It's also worth mentioning that unlike drug's which is an ongoing issue, abortion (within reason) is a "one off" event. What I mean by this is that for many women being illegal or not in their location will most likely not stop their choice of if they wish to have an abortion or not. As a result many will engage in "medical tourism" and simply have an abortion take place in a country where it is legal, not lowering the abortion rate, simply shifting it somewhere else. Only those without financial means (lower social-economic background) will then most likely turn to unsafe alternatives. This also makes one of the unfortunately vulnerable classes of people more susceptible to even more health and medical risks then they already are. Due to character limit's, I'll move onto my other main point, based around the belief we should not and cannot impose our moral beliefs on others. "Pro life supporters are not forcing moral standards on someone else they are just trying to stop 4000 babies from dying each week." Firstly we're going to have to come to the agreement that the majority of people who chose to have an abortion do not think of it this way. They believe for their own reasons that life does not start at the time they have their abortion, so they are ok with it morally and ethically. I think this can be fairly confirmed with their carrying out the abortion. "So when it comes down to it, its not pro life believers that are "enforcing our moral standards on pro choice believers," but vice versa. Also why should pro life believers stand back and watch everyday as 4000 babies are murdered, this is America, where we the people have every right to try and enforce laws that we want made." To begin with you absolutely have the right to try and get laws enacted, which is why public debate is such a good thing, that's the beauty of freedom of speech (I'll get to this freedom). This is a key difference in our philosophies which I think is worth highlighting and explaining. The first premise of my logic is that different people have different opinions of where life begins. There is no right answer to this, simply differing opinions, neither is correct simply because it's the belief of the holder. Just the same way that no religion is right, simply because it's the belief of the holder. Because there are different opinions we have a situation where to some individuals abortion is ok – it's simply aborting a foetus before it turns into a human, and to other's abortion is unacceptable – a foetus is always a human, and at any stage it's murder. Can we agree on this statement? If we can agree on that statement, I think it's the lesser of evils to legalize abortion. At an individual level it leads to the following situation. This is also why I don't accept your premise of pro-choice people enforcing their opinion on pro-life people. Abortion - Legal People who believe it's morally acceptable have the choice to end the pregnancy if they wish People who believe it's not morally acceptable have the choice to carry the pregnancy through. Abortion - Illegal People who believe it's morally acceptable are legally restricted and can't exercise their choice People who believe it's not morally acceptable have the choice to carry the pregnancy through. As you can see, only through abortion being illegal can someone's choice about what is largely a philosophical debate be restricted. If I found Christianity morally offensive do you think that if I had enough support, even the support of 51% of the nation (the majority) I should be allowed to outlaw it? Or do you think the choice of belief should be protected? "From that quote it is obvious that you disagree with birth control abortion, but then why would you insist on keeping abortion legal even if 95% of abortions are because of BIRTH CONTROL REASONS? You are willing to sacrifice those 95% of babies just because you think that pro life supporters shouldn't "enforce our standards onto others," even though it is perfectly legal to do so in America?" The short but perhaps surprising answer is yes. I think its best summed up in a quote from Evelyn Beatrice Hall (commonly attributed to Voltaire). "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." In America (where I don't live), it's commonly said that you believe in the right to freedom, and cherish that freedom more than anything. It's also for that reason I believe in someone's choice to choose for themselves what they believe to be more important than what I personally view on the subject. As a result I think that abortion should be legal, and I never want to convince you that abortion is right - That's your personal view to hold, however hopefully I can convince you that perhaps others have the right to act on their own beliefs.