Abortion violates the Constitution.

Thank you for the debate, Pro -- I would like to counter your points in which you state abortion is a violation of the U.S. constitution and additionally counter your assertions in regards to planned parenthood and abortion in general. C1: Legality of abortion in regards to the ConstitutionFirst off, it is important to understand that no where in the Constitution is the phrase "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This is found instead in the Declaration of Independence. More specifically, legal protections in regards to life, liberty, and property are found in the 5th amendment, where it states that no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." [1] To delve into the constitutionality of abortion, we needn't look further than one of the most infamous supreme court descisions in history - Roe v Wade, in which by a 7 - 2 decision the legality and right to abortion was affirmed. The court ruled that "a right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion." [2] Additionally, the court stated that a person has a right to abortion until viability, which they defined as the abilitity to live outside the mother's womb with or without artificial aid. This is usually considered around 24 to 28 weeks of development.Most importantly, however, the court ruled that "that the word 'person' as used in the due process clause and in other provisions of the Constitution did not include the unborn, and therefore the unborn lacked federal constitutional protection." [3] Because of the fact that the Constitution does not explicitly include protection for the unborn, they cannot be considered persons under the law. This means that a woman's right to abortion does not violate the Constitution in any way.C2: Planned ParenthoodThere is a massive misunderstanding of what Planned Parenthood provides to its patients and what the funding it recieves from the federal government goes to. It is imperative to understand that it is illegal for the federal government to fund abortion, as explicitly outlined in the Hyde Amendment. [4] The federal government provides $528.4 million dollars a year to Planned Parenthood, none of which goes to abortion due to the Hyde Amendment. Additionally, only 3% of all of Planned Parenthood's services go towards abortion; the overwhelming majority of Planned Parenthood's services go towards extremely important issues like STDs, contraception, and cancer screening. [5] It is also important to realize that the vast majority of patients recieving care from Planned Parenthood are poor, and would have extremely limited health options if Planned Parenthood were to be defunded: "As of 2012, 79 percent of people receiving services from Planned Parenthood lived at 150 percent of the federal poverty level or lower (that comes out to around $18,500 for a single adult)" [6] To see evidence of this in action, we can look at Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker (R) defunded Planned Parenthood in that state. "Walker in 2011 eliminated all state funding to Planned Parenthood, which in turn closed five clinics over the next three years. The loss of those clinics meant women were referred to other facilities, in some cases a considerable distance away, in order to continue getting services." [7]The State of Indiana has cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrong doing. [8] What Planned Parenthood did is entirely legal and was not done for profit. If the tissue isn't sold into research, it is disposed of at the cost of the clinic.C3: Outlawing abortion would have terrible effectsThink of what has happened throughout history when a massive service is outlawed. Prohibition saw the rise of organized crime and massive illegal distribution of alcohol and increase in criminal power. The war on drugs saw the number of illegal drug cartels soar and has been responsible for the death or incarceration of thousands of people. What happens when you restrict the ability of people to access a service? They turn to illegal, vastly less safe methods. Outlawing or restricting abortion would cause the many people who truly need it to turn to dangerous and illegal methods, and if unable to recieve these services may even turn to suicide. "Although self-induced abortion is dangerous under any circumstances, other methods run a higher risk of injury and death. In order to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, women [in countries that have outlawed abortion] will drink turpentine, bleach, or livestock manure concoctions. Some will inflict direct injury to the vagina by inserting herbal mixes or inserting foreign objects into the body like a twig or a coat hanger. Some use external injury—jumping from the top of the stairs or from a roof—to induce abortion, as well as inflicting blunt trauma (like punching or kicking) to the abdomen." [9] Even more disturbing, in El Salvador, a country that has completely outlawed abortion, "suicide is the cause of death for 57 percent of pregnant females between the ages of 10 and 19." [10] It's undebatable that restricting women's access to abortion services causes devastating effects. It is imperative that the United States does not continue on the path of further restrictions.Conclusion: Not only has the Surpreme Court ruled in a landslide descision the right of women to recieve abortion services, no where in the constitution is the explicit illegality of abortion or protection of the unborn mentioned, nor does any government funding go towards abortion. Additionally, the effects of further restricting or outlawing abortion completely would be devastating on American women and would cause massive spikes in illegal activity and suicides among pregnant teens. As Americans, we need to stand up for the civil liberties of women and say no to restricting the right to abortions before viability.Sources: [1] http://www.usconstitution.net...[2] https://en.wikipedia.org...[3] http://law.justia.com...[4] https://en.wikipedia.org...[5] http://www.npr.org...[6] http://www.gao.gov...[7] http://www.politifact.com... [8] http://www.politifact.com...[9] http://prospect.org...[10] http://www.reproductiverights.org...