We (American government) should defund Planned Parenthood.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to debate this with you. Good luck to you too and yes, let's have a good debate. Rebuttal 1: Selling of fetal tissue. "Planned Parenthood has been shown to be selling body parts and tissue from aborted babies (1). We as a country can not support this monstrosity." So let"s say that this is true. Now let"s look at some of the facts, this practice is legal if it is not done for profit. Planned Parenthood reports that this is not done for profit, but the price they sell it at is only enough to cover the cost of transportation and storage. This means the practice is legal. So that"s one issue resolved. The next is if this practice is ethical or not. So let"s take a few things into account. 1. By the time the fetus" are sold they are already dead, and would be disposed off if they are not used. 2. If they are used, they are used for medical research. Fetal tissue is very important for medicine because of their extreme regenerative ability with stem cells. Think about it this way, you start off with 2 cells, a sperm and egg cell. In 9 months you have a full grown baby with fully functional organs, fascinating isn"t it? This phenomenon is thanks to what you call stem cells. Imagine if we could use that regenerative ability. In theory we could replicate any cell in the human body. With that ability we could cure many of the currently incurable diseases. With the study of stem cells we can learn more about diseases like cancer as well as birth defects, and with using stem cells we can cure diseases such as cardio vascular disease, Parkinson"s and diabetes. So is it ethical? Yes, yes it is. It is close to the same logic as donating your body to science upon death. Have you ever lost a loved one to diseases like cancer? I have, and that"s an experience no one should have to go through. If we advantage our medical technology in stem cell research that may be someone no one has to go through. So yes it is ethical if we can save lives and make sure no one has to go through that experience. Rebuttal 2: religious beliefs "Also the government should not use tax payers dollars to support an abortion clinic when abortion goes against many peoples religious beliefs," That's just a price you have to pay for living in the U.S. The government does many things that the citizens do not support, yet we still have to pay tax dollars to support it. This includes but is not limited to wars, political support etc. The US government will always do stuff with taxpayers money that taxpayers do not support, and that's just the way it is. "you are directly violating their 1st amendment rights." This is actually false, First Amendment - Religion and Expression. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances Under this amendment you have the freedom to practice any religion you would like. Planned Parenthood in no way violates this. You have the full right to NOT take part in an abortion or support it, but someone else taking part in an abortion is in no way an infringement on your rights, therefore your 1st amendment rights are not being violated. In fact it's quite the opposite. If we make laws against Planned Parenthood based on religion that is, if anything against the 1st amendment. The amendment strong states that there must be church and state separation. Making a law based on religious beliefs is in violation of church and state separation. Now onto offensive arguments. Contention 1: Teen pregnancy and STIs Teen pregnancy is a serious issue in America. Among developed countries we have the highest rate of teen pregnancy. If you read this report here: http://www.plannedparenthood.org... You will see the many ways that Planned Parenthood tackles this issue. It 1. Provides comprehensive sex education that teaches abstinence as well as sexual health information like condoms and other contraceptives. Comprehensive sex education has been proven to reduce STI infections as well unwanted pregnancy. If you read the report it also talks about how it is empirically proven that "Increased Use of Contraception Accounts for 86 Percent of the Recent Decline in Teenage Pregnancy" So by providing teens with contraceptives we only help reduce rates of teen pregnancy, and that's exactly what Planned Parenthood does. Also "Easy Access to Contraception Helps Reduce the Incidence and Cost of Teen Pregnancy" So again that's exactly what Planned Parenthood does. They also offer confidentiality which is proven to attract teens to their services, therefore reducing teen pregnancy. Planned Parenthood should be kept publicly funded because they use the methods that are scientifically proven to work best, that is the best way to tackle the issue of teen pregnancy and the spread of horrible and preventable diseases. They do best, because they understand how teens think and do their absolute best to work with them. Many other programs do not do this, such as abstinence only sex education which has been shown to make the problem worse. Planned Parenthood should be kept because they are the solution we need. If we cut funding to them, I promise you the problem will get worse. http://www.plannedparenthood.org... http://www.advocatesforyouth.org... http://www.vox.com... http://stemcells.nih.gov... http://www.advocatesforyouth.org...