A Woman Who Rapes A Man Should Not Be Allowed To Have An Abortion Without His Consent

Rebuttal: Child's Best Interests Is Still to LiveEven though "fetus" is only a potential child my opponent has already said that the child's best interests should come first, which I agree with. Just because the child is not born yet doesn't mean we shouldn't consider the child first.Clearly to live at all is better than not at all, making the child being carried to term and born in the child's best interests.My opponent says that finding out that they were a "forced birth" may scar the child. However, this depends on how the child looks at it. The child may see it as "he only made her give birth to me to punish her" or the child may see it as "he knew I was alive, so he made sure I was born". Even if the man just wanted to punish the woman he's not going to tell the child that, he will say that the thought of his son or daughter's life being ended in the womb disturbed him.Furthermore, if this law was passed it's unlikely the child would ever learn that his mother planned to have an abortion but was refused one. Even if he knows he was the product of rape he will likely never learn that his mother would've had an abortion if she had his father's consent.And even if the child was "scarred" it is still better to be alive but with some emotional scars than to have never lived at all. People with emotional scars still have happy memories and experience joy at times, which makes it worth it to be alive.Rape Victims Often Feel Guilty Over Being RapedI thought it was common sense that rape victims sometimes feel responsible for the rape, and so would not need a source. But since you insist:http://www.ibiblio.org...This is a general problem that rape victims, male or female may face. My other source just points out that a male faces the additional problems that come from gender stereotypes.It is easy to sit there and say that because he's a victim he won't feel responsible, because it seems logical. Well, feelings are NOT always logical, especially when you are subjected to a major traumatic event like that.If the man feels responsible for being raped it follows that if the woman aborts the fetus he may feel responsible for that as well.Pro-Life Or Pro-Choice It's IrrelevantI said "Put yourself in the shoes of a pro-life man who was raped" because someone who feels that strongly about abortion would be the most hurt by the woman's abortion. However, most people regardless of their general position on abortion still will have some sentimental feelings for the "unborn child", and you can argue that I should use the term "fetus" all you want but I use "unborn child" in this sentence to emphasize that this is what people tend to think of the "unborn child" as when it is theirs.And most people who are pro-choice still are not pro-abortion. One popular pro-choice slogan is "safe, legal, and rare".http://www.lifenews.com...Even the president uses that term.Just because someone is pro-choice doesn't mean they will have no feelings for their "unborn child".Rarity Does Not Mean We Shouldn't Have A LawMy opponent suggests we shouldn't have this law just because it is to regulate something that is rare.The law should do as much good as it can and comparatively as little harm as it can. If it does more good than harm we should have the law. Just because it would only apply to a rare number of cases is not a good reason not to have the law unless there are significant costs that outweigh the benefits.The logic that it's rare so the law shouldn't deal with it just doesn't hold water. Some countries have very small homicide rates. Some even have years without a single murder committed. Should these countries legalize murder because it is "rare"?http://en.wikipedia.org...Rebuttal to "man could just as easily pursue an actual relationship"Knowing that his own seed has conceived a child he may feel an emotional bond with that child, and want to raise the child for that reason. In that case just "starting an actual relationship and having another kid" is NOT enough.Rebuttal to Threatened-Abortion Rebuttal"I assume that Pro is going off of the scenario that the man is pro-life."No, again one does not have to be pro-life in order to be emotionally affected by the life of the "unborn child"."Since, in this scenario, the law is not in effect, this is really just a situation where, if he loses the case, she'd probably still get an abortion. Now the legal issue AND the child is out of the way, if this law were in effect, the only one at gain would be the man."Again, my opponent is assuming the man is going to be logical after being subjected to a traumatizing event. The man might NOT reason that way, or he might think of the possibility of her "aborting anyways" but still avoid pressing charges or may fumble the case hoping on the faint possibility that she keeps her word and doesn't abort in that event, which means if she does in fact wind up aborting anyways not only has the man been tricked out of any legal justice he has been further emotionally scarred by the abortion.The woman could even say "if you press charges at all I will have an abortion" preventing charges from being filed. In this case though if she has an abortion the man has nothing to lose by pressing charges against her. Furthermore to make sure she doesn't face charges after the child is born she may even go further, forcing the man to pretend to friends and coworkers that he is having a relationship with her or at the extreme considering marrying her for example so she will have evidence in her defense if he decides to press charges.Feeling Guilt For Forced PregnancyWhether the man is pro-life or pro-choice most people are not pro-abortion, and will feel sentiment towards the child even before it is born. Even if he does it out of revenge any guilt he would feel later will be tempered by three facts:1. She did after all rape him.2. Her imprisonment is going to be far worse for her than not being able to have an abortion.3. Had he not done that then the child would've never been able to live in the first place.Any guilt would therefore likely be mild. A life being lost or never begun is more likely to lead to feelings of guilt than making a woman who is about to spend most or the rest of her life in prison go through with a pregnancy.