Resolved: Abortion ought not be illegal.

The title of the topic states that abortion should not be illegal. However, abortion is not illegal in many forms already over much of the world. I assume what's said is that abortion should be relatively unregulated, and abortions should be made legal later in the gestation period, and for any reasons, not just health or welfare reasons. The idea that abortion should be made legal for any reason beyond the extreme (i.e. saving a mother's life), is what I'll argue against. I think there may be times where abortion should be a legal option, but only in extreme cases. I think most pro-choice advocates muddy the waters with all kinds of terms and humanitarian notions, which I will get to later. But really, there is one major question that has to be answered, which I believe is the killer of the pro-choice argument. What would you do If a young child came up to you and asked, "can I kill it?" You'd first have to ask what "it" is. If it's a spider, most would give a resounding "yes!" But if it's a little sibling, the answer would presumably be quite different. In cases of abortion, we know that the fetus is alive. That is inarguable. The question then becomes, "what is it?" If the answer is human, it seems like the issue is an open and shut case in my favor. If the answer is non-human, the pro-choice advocate has a significant burden of proof to bear in proving that assertion. It is here that I would now like to focus my argument for why I believe a "fetus" is a human being worthy of life and rights. This SLED argument is a very famous argument used by pro-life advocates, but I think there's a very good reason for that. Size: Some argue that the fetus is not a human being who holds legitimate rights, like the mother, because it is smaller than humans that we interact with on a regular basis. But how does this make sense? I'm a relatively short adult male, so am I able to be put to death because I'm not really human? Infants and toddlers are smaller than adults, so why can't parents choose to dispose of them? Level of development: This is a similar argument as size, but focuses more on mental and societal maturation, along with the physical. This runs into the same problems as size. Is one considered less human because their body or mind isn't as advanced another person's? Environment: Some argue that because a fetus is inside of the mother, it is somehow not considered a human being with rights. Sure, it's connected to the mother and is located inside of her body, but how does this make one any less human? I am no less human sitting here in my house than I am when I am at work (my boss should read this!). Dependency: The final way pro-choice advocates attempt to escape the inevitable is by saying that fetuses require direct nurture from their mother alone. But how does this disqualify someone as a human? Being dependent on one person alone makes someone non-human, but once they are born they have a society to rely on, which magically changes their essence? I have yet to hear a pro-choicer explain away the humanity of a fetus, yet that's exactly what they try to do by insisting on using the term "fetus." The first step to condoning atrocities is to dehumanize the victims. But just as 3 month olds are newborns, yet persons, and 13 year olds are teenagers, but persons, so it is with the fetus. It is a person. With that idea firmly established, we can move on to what the notion of abortion truly advocates: the killing of a human person. In the next section, I will point out some common pro-choice arguments that sound emotionally appealing, but are logically vacuous in light of the fact that the fetus is a person. Women's Rights: Making abortion illegal imposes on the rights of the mother. But "rights" can not be defined as doing whatever you want to do. If that were the case, murder, stealing, and the like would be my right. Abortion, as these other crimes, infringes on the rights of another human's life or property. It's amazing to me how women's rights stop after birth. I'm amazed to see women prosecuted for throwing their babies in trash cans. Why? If pro-choicers do argue against my SLED defense, they're asserting that those attributes make someone less human. If that's the case, a newborn or toddler in the trash can is killed legitimately by someone who is more human, and therefore has more rights. Women's Health: Many point to the death of thousands of women who performed illegal abortions prior to the 1960's. Abortion should be illegal, as women will want to have abortions anyway. Is that really an argument for making things legal? Allow crime and immorality because people are going to do it anyway? Making abortion largely illegal would curb the crime of murder and infringement of fetus's human rights. Sure, it may cause some to go to jail and some women may die, but we accept these consequences by upholding the other aspects of the law. It seems even more acceptable to plan for these consequences when we're upholding the lives of human beings. On a side note, most of the statistics on deaths as a result of illegal abortion are taken in the early 1900's. The procedures and medicines at this time were vastly inferior to what we have today. Most illegal abortions in the Western world would most likely be performed by doctors sympathetic to abortion, so this argument doesn't hold too much weight in my mind, although we can't be sure of the results without actually experiencing them in modernity. Welfare: The last major argument put forth is that many women choose abortion to avoid a life of being unable to provide for their children, whether financially, emotionally, or otherwise. I also include in this argument the abortion of those who have unwanted qualities (my child will have green eyes but I want blue) to major disabilities (down syndrome). This argument, out of all of them, seems the most noxious to me. While I sympathize with the plight of the underprivileged, what does this message send to those living there right now? Anyone with a disability or undesirable trait should look at abortion as dehumanizing. If there is any argument that reeks of eugenics and Nazi Germany - which we all say on the surface is appalling - it is this one. We would be up in arms if a mother killed her five year old kid who had down syndrome or ADHD, yet this matter of preference is acceptable in abortion. What is even more appalling is the idea that provision for children's welfare is primarily physical and financial. My parents and in-laws all came from very meager beginnings, but had a glorious life in the sense that their parents loved them and nurtured them. This wasn't just an easy thing for the parents, as they had to sacrifice of themselves to work long jobs, and they gave of their time to support their children. Fast forward to the Casey Anthony trial, and I can't tell you how many people were condemning her. I have a friend who would have tortured her himself if he could have, yet he is pro-choice. We condemn those who have priorities of living a party-life or focusing on themselves after birth, yet most don't see the hypocrisy of doing the exact same thing to a smaller, less developed, more dependent, localized human being. At the end of this section, I have to ask how so much hypocrisy goes unchecked in the pro-choice community? Why is infant, toddler, and even teenage killing not legitimate? By pro-choice standards, they sure seem to be less human. On top of that, many pro-choicers seem to be all for taking away a mothers rights upon birth, or soon after. But a child sucks resources from the mother long after birth. Furthermore, how do pro-choicers claim to uphold human dignity and rights, while they deny the same of those who can't advocate for themselves? And at the same time, how do they uphold the humanity of those who are living with undesirable traits or in less than desirable circumstances, since these are grounds for fetal destruction?