death penalty and abortion should be illegal

Hi mv. You bring up very good points. This is my first debate, so I hope I am as clear and accurate as possible. I'm afraid we agree (oh no!) that the death penalty should be illegal. However, I must disagree with you on the issue of abortion. The reason I took this debate was that, technically (by the definition of "and") I disagree with you that both the death penalty and abortion should be made illegal. The Death Penalty I agree with you that "we only stoop to their level when we kill them off." The message that is sent to people when we sentence someone to death is that killing is alright, because it's done by US (no pun intended). On the other hand, I think that discussing the morality of killing someone is superfluous when it comes to this issue, since the issue can be cut off altogether without raising questions of morality, as I will now proceed to explain. The government's duty is not to play God. The government's duty is to maintain order, and keep society safe. Thus, unfortunately, we have to put people in jail, and administer punishment. But the reason this is done is NOT because it is the government's duty administer retribution; the reason we punish those who break the law is because this is necessary to keep society safe, which is precisely the government's job. The death penalty, however, might have been justified in the times of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, because, at the time, there were no other forms of securing the usurpers from harming the population, such as by putting them in secure prisons. Indeed, Marie et Louis had royal friends and family in Austria that would most likely free them from any form of imprisonment. This is why, in the 18th century, the death penalty was probably necessary. Nevertheless, the death penalty is no longer justified today, because the death penalty is no longer necessary to maintain the peace and well-being of the citizens; because, today, there are viable alternatives. If you wish to challenge the reasoning behind which I arrived at my view on the death penalty, please fire away. If you have any questions or something is unclear, please bring that up as well. I could go on writing on this issue, but since, at the end of the line, we both agree, I'll leave the decision of continuing this discussion up to you. Let us now move on to abortion. Abortion As you already know, we disagree on this issue. I could try and attack you on all sorts of technicalities like "its a fetus, not a baby," but I will not since I consider them important in your attempt to convey your point. Firstly, let me clearly state my position. I believe that any form of harm is wrong. However, I do believe that harm can be justified, because sometimes it is necessary to inflict it (this is reflected in my view regarding the death penalty.) In accordance, I do not think that abortion is something good, because it consists of killing a fetus, and I will personally do everything I can to avoid impregnating a female that I do not wish to have offspring with. Nevertheless, in the case I found myself in that scenario, I would still insist that the course of action would be for her to get an abortion. This is because I believe that abortion is a harm that is relatively justifiable. Now that I have stated my position, let me proceed to explain why I differ from you. You write "that gives them no right to play God and decide that that baby should die." If this is a problem, then consider the fact that human beings kill many animals for their own consumption. Some, if not most, of these slaughtered animals are fully formed, they have instincts of survival, are self-sufficient, and so on. These animals are more fully formed than a fetus in the early phases of gestation, when the fetus can be legally aborted. Even if you were a vegetarian, why would the issue of abortion be more pressing than these animals, when the amount of animals slaughtered for consumption is notably greater than the fetuses being aborted, in addition to the fact that the animals consumed are fully formed? "what if that baby that was aborted last night in some hospital could've been the next tiger woods, the next president, or what if he/she could've been the next doctor to stun medical science and find the cure for AIDS?" The same argument could be used regarding masturbation. What if the spermatozoid abandoned could have become the sort of prodigious figure you describe? I know that what I'm about to say is comic, but kidding aside, wouldn't this mean that we should provide an ovum to as many spermatozoa as possible? "ever heard of adoption programs, or anonymously leaving a baby at a firehouse?" This raises a question of practicality. There are already many orphans waiting to be adopted. The demand for adoption is not great enough to meet the supply already. You can see that in http://www.acf.hhs.gov... If abortion were made illegal, this problem would become more accentuated.