February Beginners Tournament (Round 1): Abortion should be illegal.

I. Healtha. Abortion saves the lives of womenBefore Roe v. Wade, abortions were most commonly done in one of two ways. The first, septic abortion, was the result of women trying to terminate their pregnancy themselves (the methods of which ranged from the infamous coat hangers, to knitting needles, to radiator flush), oftentimes out of financial or domestic desperation, This obviously resulted in severe illness, and far more often than not, the unnecessary death of woman that could have been avoided were it legal. And the second, back-alley abortions were rife with improper medical standards and many of those who carried them out were unqualified to do so. [1]In 1972, there were 39 fatalities of women as a result of illegal abortions. In 1976, after Roe v. Wade passed, that number decreased to 2. [2] The mortality rate of legally induced abortions is 0.6 per every 100 thousand abortions; the mortality rate for live births is around 14 times higher. [3] In addition, the American Medical Association coupled with the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists stated that “abortion is one of the safest medical procedures performed in the United States.” [4]As you can see, the evidences that illegalized abortion has costed the lives of women is plainly evident. If the SCOTUS ruling was overturned, we would return to this standard, and cause the deaths of dozens more in the process.b. Improves emotional and mental stabilityThe raw data from a study conducted between 2008 and 2010 examined the distinctions between those who received an abortion and those who were denied. The latter group stated that they experienced more regret and anger (and less relief and happiness) than those in those in the former group. In addition, 95% of the women felt that the abortion was the right decision. [5]II. Fetusesa. Incapability of feeling painIt's commonly accepted among neuroscientists that the prerequisite for experiencing pain is the cortex, the beginnings of which appear around 23 weeks' gestational age. However, the ability to perceive pain doesn't become present until 29 to 30 weeks. [6] Not only was this affirmed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in 2010; [7] two years later, their statement was endorsed by ACOG. [8]The vast majority of all abortions occur far before 23 weeks' gestation, much less the 29-30 that would begin the development of pain perception. Of them all, as of 2012, 95% offered abortions at 8 weeks gestation, 72% at 12 weeks, 34% at 20 weeks, and 16% at 24 weeks. [9] Likewise, 98.6% of women that have abortions occur at or before 20 weeks, and inversely, the extremely meager 1.2% occur during week 21, or later. [10] b. PersonhoodSince the resolution regards whether or not abortion should be legalized, it's only natural to assume the bounds of the law, on if a fetus constitutes a person or not. From Roe v. Wade, the majority Supreme Court justices concluded, that among the few mentions of “person” in the United States constitution (most notably the fourteenth amendment) that the unborn, including fetuses, are not persons. [11]III. Societya. Aids against financial burdenA study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco found that those denied abortions later slid into some sort of financial burdens. A year later, 76% were on government assistance and 67% were below the poverty line. The same study found that women denied abortions were more likely to stay in abusive relationships. 7% reported an incident of domestic violence (as opposed to 3% of women who had abortions). [12]b. Reduction in welfare costThe Congressional Budget Office evaluated a proposed bill that would ban all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and found that the resulting births as a result of the ban would raise the deficit by $75 million by 2018, and $225 million by 2023. [13]== In Summary ==A return to illegalization would likewise cause increased fatalities and financial harm, and fetuses are incapable of feeling pain when the vast majority of abortions occur (and legally do not constitute persons).References:[1] http://articles.latimes.com...[2] https://www.guttmacher.org...[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...[4] https://www.acog.org... (pg. 17)[5] https://www.guttmacher.org...[6] https://jama.jamanetwork.com...[7] https://www.rcog.org.uk... (8)[8] https://www.acog.org...[9] https://www.guttmacher.org... (3)[10] https://www.guttmacher.org...[11] http://abortion.procon.org... (12)[12] http://io9.gizmodo.com...[13] http://thinkprogress.org...