Kleptin Tournament: Abortion

Many apologies. AP tests have made me want to scream my lungs out. Time is quickly running out for me to post for this round. This will be condensed. Again, many apologies. 1. A Fetus is Not a Human Being "If we make it illegal to abort a baby 1 day before it is due, then we are making it illegal for mothers to abort who will die if they deliver. My opponent must take this into consideration." What? No. If a doctor says a mother will die if she does not abort, then it becomes OK. There is a huge difference. "My opponent should remember that there is a difference between a human child developing into a human teenager, and a fetus developing into a human." All development changes one sort of human to another sort of human. No difference. What makes the fetus stage of a human not a human? Again, such a distinction is arbitrary. "There is something to be said about full development." A baby is released from the womb often on accident. I want to ask very explicitly: if my opponent remains logically consistent, is it OK to kill a prematurely developed baby. 2. Potential Life is Not Equal to Actual Life "I don't understand how my point was negated what so ever. Can my opponent elaborate, please?" In the original debate, the point was brought up that fetuses aren't actually alive. But my opponent has conceded that fetuses are actually alive. She went so far as to say sperm is alive! Where my opponent disagrees with me is whether a fetus constitutes *human* life. But that's the first point! Not this one. 3. Anti-Abortion Laws Infringe on a Woman's Rights "Again, my opponent is assuming that all women who have abortions are 'irresponsible.' Must I repeat? Rape victims, accidents, health concerns, etc. Not all women who have abortions are irresponsible." Let's say in addition to using the condom and the pill, a heterosexual couple also practices "pulling out." But the guy doesn't have much control over his body, so let's say he messes up one third of the time. Even still, the chance of pregnancy over the course of a year is less than .01%. Is this chance too high for you? Okay, then use more forms of contraception. Do all these forms of contraception seem excessive, especially given the individually negligible chance of pregnancy? Okay, then use fewer forms of contraception, and increase your risk for pregnancy. Either way, the information is out there. You can research it and decide what form of contraception is right for you. If you have sex, you are accepting the risk, however small, of pregnancy. Live with it. And as for rape, like I said, we need not add more travesty. Let not murder be added upon these sins. 4. Illegal Abortions are Dangerous "To begin, I ask the judges to acknowledge that my opponent's sources were in fact bias and thus not worthy of being proper sources in this debate. My opponent should find an unbiased medical association to back his claims instead of extremest Christian propaganda groups." Again I ask: what is wrong with the science? My opponent still has not said what. Also, if she wants me to prove a negative, let me ask her to prove a positive: please provide sources showing that the illegalization of abortion increases the rate of dangerous back alley abortions in any significant way (ie not anecdotal). "There are plenty of cases where couples use both condoms and pills and still end up with a child." Extremely rare. You're more likely to get cancer in your life time. Besides, you should accept the risks (however small) if you're going to engage in heterosexual sex. ...and then my opponent goes on to strawman me, making arguments that I haven't made. Please ignore her last comments on this point. 5. A Human's Essence is Not Premeditedly Determined by Some Destiny "This is not Christian country. There may be Christians living here, and a hand full of the founding fathers may have been Christian, but this is not a theocracy. This is a democracy." Yes, this is a democracy, but a democracy based on and deeply rooted in Christianity. "You can not make a theocratic law. There must be other reasoning behind your law other than religious mandate." Yes, you can. We force young children to say "under God" in the pledge. We have "in God we trust" on our money. The idea that America is a secular nation is absurd. Notice, too, how my opponent has yet to negate my sources. I suspect she can't, and thus hasn't. --------------------------- 1. Adoptions Exists "Sure, a child would say 'of course I'd rather have been born!' because they were born and can make that decision. If they were never born, they would never have had this problem. Faulty reasoning on my opponent's side. Also, if that is the case, then my opponent must give up allowing mother's to have an abortion if their life is at stake. Those children, under his reasoning, would have wanted a life as well." A birth that would kill the mother will kill the fetus, too. So, it comes down to mitigation: one life dead, or two? "Also, a medical study on orphanages being bad for children's psychology" Again, would you rather have a crappy upbringing or not have been born at all. Besides, many kids have a crappy upbringing but we all them to be born. For example, should we abort all babies whose parents both have been charge with violent offenses multiple times? Of course not! After all, like I've said, there's always adoption. 2. Abortion is unhealthy for a mother "If the mother is going to have an abortion done anyway, offering her a safer alternative is better then having her perform an illegal abortion that will either kill her or leave her physically damaged." That's just the thing. If abortion were not legal, mothers WOULDN'T abort. And even if my opponent does not agree with my sources that prove a negative, she has yet to prove this positive. I ask her to please do so. "Also, can my opponent provide studies that we can actually read? None of these studies are showing up on Google." Huh? All my sources can easily be found on Google. This one, for example, has been replicated more than five thousand times: http://www.google.com...;.