Abortion should not be illegal

That will help keep the debate fair and again, I thank him for that. As far as his question, I am talking about all forms but partial birth, etc. I will begin by refuting my opponents points. 1. "The predominate mentality of people who support abortion is that the woman should have the choice. I agree with this, however I believe the woman (and the man) have the choice when they choose to have sex. " 1. Although I agree with this, not every case of abortion would be because of consensual sex. I believe that Rape would be the primary reason for abortion. 2. "All abortion does is allow for people to easily escape from their responsibility. Think about it. In what other situation would you be allowed to walk away from your responsibility. Would you be allowed to walk away from a test because you weren't ready for it? Of course not. Would you be allowed to leave a car accident were you injured someone? Absolutely not? So why should you be allowed to escape your responsibility to see the child through birth? That's all that is required of you? " 2. I do agree that people shouldn't escape from responsibility. But, the people who would choose to abort their baby, but couldn't because of the law, probably wouldn't be very good parents. If they didn't want the baby to begin with, what makes it seem like they will be willing to raise the baby in a safe, nurturing environment. Although, you did respond to that with your next statement: 3. "If you don't want the child you can give it up for adoption afterwards. " 3. To begin, both me and my opponent are males, which means neither of us will ever experience child birth. But, the entire process from conception to birth can be extremely hard for a woman. Imagine a 16 year old girl being raped. You are saying that she has to deal with that for a baby she didn't plan for, or even want. She (presumably) wouldn't be married to the man that raped her, so she wouldn't have a husband to help her through. She would have to deal with pregnancy during school. Which means that she may drop out (1). Also, There are many health risks to the baby, including low birth weight, inadequate nutrition for the mother and child during pregnancy, and lack of prenatal care, which means the baby is 4 times as likely to die before age 1 (1). Also, teen dropouts are more likely to rely on public assistance and become involved in the criminal justice system (2). The connection between teen pregnancy and drop outs is startling. So, to have the option to discreetly abort the unwanted baby should be obvious. 4. "Furthermore, abortion is essentially murder. If a drunk driver gets in a car accident with a pregnant woman, and they kill the child, they are charged with manslaughter or murder (2 accounts if the woman dies too). " 4. This, according to your definition of murder, really depends on if you consider an embryo a person. This is the true division, I personally don't believe it is a person until it leaves it's mother. 5. "life- a state of living characterized by capacity for metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction" 5. According to this definition a cell has life. By scratching your arm you are killing cells, by getting cut you are killing cells. By having an abortion (in it's earliest stages) you are just killing cells. We don't have a problem with cells dying, so what is the problem with abortion before it leaves it's mother? Again, I would like to thank my opponent for accepting this debate, and look forward to his rebuttal. (1) . http://www.womenshealthchannel.com... (2) . http://www.carrborocitizen.com...