AAN Tour: Voluntary Abortion should be legal

I will use this round for my arguments on why "Voluntary abortion should be legal". ArgumentsC1: The ability of a woman to control her body is part of her bodily rights. This is the main argument that I'm going to present. My position is centered on the argument of bodily rights and bodily integrity. The violation of these is unethical and intrusive. This argument alone is enough to justify the legalization of abortion. -Bodily integrityThis is the inviolability of the physical body and it involves different rights that should be guaranteed to women. Some of these rights are related to reproductive and sexual rights. The bodily integrity ensure total control of the woman's body and the decision to continue a pregnancy or not. -Abortion in the bodily rights' argumentEvery woman has the right to chose what to do with her body and have others respect this bodily autonomy. Legal abortion ensures the ability of a woman to control her body which is not possible if she is forced to continue a pregnancy. -Abortion as a reproductive rightReproductive rights definition is:"Reproductive rights rest on the recognition of the basic right of all couples and individuals to decide freely and responsibly the number, spacing and timing of their children" [1]Safe and legal abortion is part of the reproductive rights of every woman and it's heavily related to the bodily rights. If abortion is illegal, women would be deprived of these rights that are fundamental in a modern society. -Beginning of life or personhood is irrelevant to the debateThe beginning of life and/or personhood is definitely an interesting topic that is as controversial as this debate, but it is not relevant because of the bodily rights' argument. The rights should be respected independently of things like if the fetus is alive, a human being or a person. This is important to note because this is a part of a common argument against abortion and the ability to choose and control of the woman's body. This is easier to see and understand if we replace the fetus with a grown adult. This adult is alive, is a human being and a person but no one should be forced to donate organs or give his body to save the life of this person. In other words women should not be forced to continue a pregnancy (donate her womb) to the fetus, even if this is alive/human/person. For this reason the argument of life and personhood is irrelevant to the discussion. C2: Making Abortion legal makes the procedure safer. Abortion is a safe medical procedure when is done properly. This can only be ensured if abortion is legal. -Illegal abortion won't stop abortionsWomen try to get abortions, even if this is illegal. For example, abortion used to be illegal in the US. Untrained "doctors" and conditions without medical standards were common characteristics of illegal abortion. Inducing own abortions were common too. This conditions didn't stop women to get these abortions. Estimates of the number of illegal abortions in the 1950s and 1960s ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year only in the US. [2]-Unsafety of illegal abortionMaking abortion illegal is a barrier to accessing safe abortion services and endangers women's health. Before making abortion legal an estimate of 5000 women died each year because of unsafe abortions [3]Illegal abortion is still the leading cause of maternal death. 47000 women die each year because of this. [4][5] -Surgical abortion is a safe medical procedureWhen abortion is practiced by a trained person, the procedure is safe with little to no risk. It's complications are less serious than those related to giving birth. [6]ConclusionPro has presented a compelling case for the legalization of Voluntary abortion. The arguments were related to the bodily integrity of women and the safety of abortion in the world. I await for Con's arguments. Thanks. Vote PRO. Sources1. . http://who.int...2. . http://www.guttmacher.org...3. . http://www.prochoiceamerica.org...4. . http://www.who.int...5. . http://whqlibdoc.who.int...6. . http://www.reuters.com...