Abortion should be made legal.

I'll start off with a line-by-line on the important issues here. *" denotes something my opponent has said, "* denotes the end of my opponents line. *"The difficulty with this debate is that it all depends on when "Life" begins, which is a moral and philosophical question that doesn't really lend itself well to logical reasoning."* This is wholy irrelevant in this case, conception is not the subject of this debate. *"If life begins at conception, any abortion after that point constitutes an unjustified killing of a human life, even in cases of rape or incest. A child born of rape (symbol or not) is no less of a human being than a child born under normal circumstances. If you got to know somebody who was born as a result of rape, would you really tell that person that their life was worthless, that they'd be better off dead? And the fact that rape is often difficult to prove (as you point out later) would, if anything, counsel AGAINST a rape exception, would it not?"* It would not, essentially the only argument I've ever heard against abortion is that "they're paying the consequences for their actions and they can't kill a baby". The important part of the argument is that the child is seen as a consequence of one's actions, however, if you think rape victims should be blamed for their rape, then you have some f***ing twisted logic. The woman in a case of rape has not had a choice, she has had it forced upon her. Can I force a woman to bear my child? This isn't about a child from a rape being less human, that is not the argument at all. The argument is that a women should not be forced to bear a child of another man, forced upon her completely (a woman has no choice in rape, she did not choose to have sex). If a woman wants to bear the child, all good to her, there's nothing wrong with it, however, if she does not want to bear her raper's child, that should be allowed as well. No abortion for rape victims fundamentally violates liberty and the right to choose. One can argue that those who choose to have sex have chosen their fate (though I disagree), however, there is no chance for you to argue that in the case of rape victims. This places men above women (men can do as they please, and women must bear with it) in society, this is oppression, and it should not be allowed. Basically, you conceed the fact that if an exception is to be allowed on rape, then we must grant it to all women (though you argue that an exception not be given in cases of rape). *"I'm not sure how broad the "health" exception you mention is meant to be so it's difficult to debate that. I do agree that no woman facing a serious, reasonable threat of severe physical harm should be forced to carry a baby to term. It's not that easy to "forge" this type of information, especially if sworn affidavits are required. No doctor wants to sacrifice his reputation or face potential jail time for either perjury or violation of whatever statute mandates that the health exception be legitimately serious. "* You conceed an exception based on health. It would be difficult to prove perjury as well, the files would say there is a medical problem, so there would be no way to disprove it. Really, in this day, it's not hard to forge anything, period. I will explain further why this exception must be made universal in the overview. *"This argument is always amusing. All crimes continue to occur even after the conduct is made illegal. Should we decriminalize murder or larceny simply because making them illegal doesn't drive them away completely?"* You equate murder and larceny with abortion. The fact is, we can decrease the negative impacts of abortion by making it legal, we cannot do so with rape, so your analogy fails. Furthermore, it is an example of a logical fallacy, you cannot compare two unlike things. *"That's only true if you believe that abortion itself is morally acceptable and worthy of society's endorsement. Some people might very well believe that it is far better for the country to lower the amount of abortions that occur overall even if the price for that involves some people resorting to unsafe procedures."* Not necessarily, if we recognize that abortions cannot be stopped by making a law, but rather will go underground, then it is acceptable to regulate it. Furthermore, your argument is turned on its head. There's no way you can prove anti-abortion laws reduce abortion, because abortion goes underground and is 100% unreported. There is no way to gain statistics on its efficiency, so you can't claim a net benefit when it comes to human life. In fact, in this round, I'm the only one that can claim a benefit, because it is better to have safer abortions where the mother does not die with the child. ****Overview**** We have our opinions on when abortion should be allowed. We have our opinions on what should be allowed sexually. We all have morals and standards, lines that should not be crossed (in our eyes). But should our opinions, our morals become the law? Are our rules, our standards appropriate for everyone? Can we realistically enforce these laws on everyone, and would society really be better off from it? For instance, if you believe that abortion is only appropriate in cases of rape, how should the woman prove she was raped? Most rape cases aren't reported, and only a small number of reported cases end in a conviction. And by the time there is a conviction, there would already be a baby. So to allow for an exception in cases of rape, we have to take women at their word. And that means that any woman wanting an abortion can claim to be raped to get an abortion that would otherwise be illegal. A woman is now forced to lie simply for the sake of having a medical procedure. What if a woman says she will commit suicide if she can't have an abortion? Do we allow the woman to have her life, or do we lose two lives in the process? Should an infant be the consequence of sex? Should an infant be born to a woman who doesn't want one, and may not be prepared for the duties of motherhood? Should pregnancy be forced upon a woman? Is choosing to have sex so horrible that a woman should be punished by losing her old life, and forced into a new one? It is not right to force someone to leave school and spend the next few years at home because of having unwise sex, or a slip up. There is no reason for anyone to be punished so severely for something so minor. *********End Overview************** Whether or not you agree with the moral rhetoric, ultimately, the rape and suicide arguments are crucial here. What should we do if a women says she will commit suicide (thus killing herself and the baby) if she cannot have an abortion? We should save one human life since we cannot save two, and this ultimately means that we must apply this exception to all women because anyone can claim they will commit suicide. This is the argument I meant when I was talking about medical prodecures in particular, so extend that up as well. Furthermore, you can look at the arguments on rape, and how if we don't provide a universal exception on cases of rape, women will be forced to lie in order to have an abortion, encouraging more things which are "morally questionable". *********************** Finally, extend my other arguments from my last speech. These all still apply to my opponent. Essentially, whether one believes abortion is wrong or whether choice supercedes, I think we can all agree that there are some exceptions. And as I argue, these exceptions must be made universal for our system to work.