no punishment before fetal pain, moderate punishment then till viability, murder after viability

My opponent argues that "clearly this debate is about how things 'ought' to be, so [constitutional rights] mean little." I would argue that is exactly what this argument boils down to, whether or not we are going to be a society that gives all its people the same rights or are we going to pick and choose when and to whom rights are given .When you asked to know "what's [my] point?" when I stated that it cannot be the woman's sole responsibility to prevent impregnation. There you go.... My opponent makes the false claim that "there is a ton of evidence supporting when fetal pain begins." But what my opponent seems to overlook is that even with the sources they provided as 'evidence', there was no single consist on when fetal pain actually begins. Of the three sources you sited the time of fetal pain was placed "at twenty weeks", "as early as sixteen weeks", and the final source placed it "much earlier even still." Given that the evidence you are providing cant come to an agreement on when fetal pain exist, why then does "it [defy] common sense " to base a opinion on the best available scientific evidence currently available, which states that a human fetus simply doesn't have the functional capacity to feel pain until after viability? Just because you personally think something makes sense does not make it true. On that point I would like to address your statement questioning my reasoning when you said, "a complete baby exists that can survive on its own but it doesn't feel pain?" Let me be clear, I said that the evidence supports the notion that pain is not experienced before viability. I never said that after viability a baby couldn't experience pain. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenatal_perception#mediaviewer/File:Pregnancy_timeline.png) Also, I never argued that "it's irrelevant when the fetus feels pain," and it would be naive to infer any relevance based off a misinterpretation of my point. But back to my point the fact is that one cannot simply choose what information is valid and ignore the parts you don"t like. Even in the article you provided Condic acknowledged that the "long-range connections within the cortex that some believe to be required for consciousness do not arise until much later, around 22-24 weeks." (http://reason.com...) If we look to that article that my opponent provided we will find even more evidence supporting the theory that fetal pain does not occur before viability. For example A report by the RCOG, Fetal Awareness: A Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice. In the 2010 report it stated that "In reviewing the neuroanatomical and physiological evidence in the fetus," it found, "it was apparent that connections from the periphery [of the fetal body] to the cortex are not intact before 24 weeks of gestation and, as most neuroscientists believe that the cortex is necessary for pain perception, it can be concluded that the fetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation."" "In other words, while fetuses can react to pain, at the 24-week stage of brain development there is no subject present that is capable of experiencing pain." (http://www.rcog.org.uk...) Another example my opponent seemed to over look when researching is the 2005 JAMA review that came to a similar conclusion. It stated that "Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester. Little or no evidence addresses the effectiveness of direct fetal anesthetic or analgesic techniques."" (http://serendip.brynmawr.edu...) And if 2005 seems that it might be a little dated the article made sure to point out a 2013 statement by The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists citing the JAMA review's conclusion and added, "Although ultrasound monitoring can show intrauterine fetal movement, no studies since 2005 demonstrate fetal recognition of pain." (http://www.acog.org...) The idea that fetal pain occurs early on in pregnancy is still just that, an idea. Made even more apparent by unsure and speculative nature of the title of the article my opponent provide "What if Fetus do feel Pain?" Abortion has been a social issue for years and people have a fundamental disagreement on the morality of it but we can not let how we feel about abortion as a whole be a factor when we are presented with information. We can not just pick and choose which side we want to believe regardless of the evidence, simply because it supports how we feel about abortion as a whole. We 'ought' to be better than that.