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DEBATE NEWS BREAKING NEWS
House GOP's aid bills for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan advance with Democrats' help
The bills are part of a complicated plan by Speaker Mike Johnson to get badly needed lethal aid to Ukraine, as well as security funding for Israel and...
In this Debate
Abortion should be illegal in the United States
Debate Information
Abortion, quite simply, is murder. And, as such, it should be illegal and is highly immoral.
1. Murder:
The four characteristics of life are present at fertilization: Growth, reproduction, metabolism, and response to stimuli. [1]
From the moment of fertilization, a living human being is growing. It has DNA distinct from its mother, and is not just a "clump of cells." [1]
With ultrasound technology, we see the baby moving around in the mother's womb.
Scientists have also documented a "flash of light that sparks when a sperm meets an egg" at conception. [2]
2. Illegality of murder:
Our country has laws against manslaughter. Therefore abortion should be illegal.
3. The Moral case for illegality:
Globally, 56 million abortions happen per year. [3]
To put this number into perspective, the most generous estimates of the holocaust pit the number of jewish deaths at 6 million throughout all 12 years. [4]
So, in one holocaust year, 500,000 jews died, but in one abortion year 56 million babies die.
To compare numbers, if we took abortion and stretched it to 12 years, 672 million babies died within an equal time span to the holocaust.
Now, abortion is a very violent process. A baby is sucked out of a woman like a crumb is sucked off a table. [5]
And if a baby somehow manages to survive this process, it is often murdered on the spot. [6]
Unconstitutionality of Abortion:
Abortion is unconstitutional due to the very first sentence of the Constitution:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." [7]
Until you can prove that abortion does not remove liberty from our posterity, then you must agree it is unconstitutional.
Our posterity has a right to life because they have a right to liberty.
The very definition of "posterity" according to Black's law Dictionary is as follows:
"All the descendants of a person in a direct line to the remotest generation. Breckinridge v. Denny, 8 Bush (Ky.) 027." [8]
This means that the Constitution protects ALL DESCENDANTS of a person's right to life. An abortion effectively takes away that right. Therefore, it is unconstitutional.
But, just to cement this further, the U.S. Code does, indeed define "child":
"A person’s 'children' are that person’s immediate offspring, whether legitimate or not, and any children legally adopted by that person." [9]
Being as "immediate offspring" is present in the womb at the moment of conception, then, clearly, their right to life is constitutionally protected and the Government has a duty to protect it since it must "provide for the common defense" of its citizens and posterity.
Therefore, constitutionally, abortion must be abolished. It deprives a posterity of the right to life, and the government must oppose such things to fulfill its constitutional duty.
References:
[1] https://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp#Science
[2] https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-captured-the-actual-flash-of-light-that-sparks-when-sperm-meets-an-egg
[3] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide
[4] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
[5] https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/abortion-procedures-surgical
[6] https://aul.org/2013/04/15/infanticide-in-america-how-many-infants-die-after-birth-in-abortion-clinics/
[7] http://constitutionus.com/
[8] https://thelawdictionary.org/posterity/
[9] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/101
1. Murder:
The four characteristics of life are present at fertilization: Growth, reproduction, metabolism, and response to stimuli. [1]
From the moment of fertilization, a living human being is growing. It has DNA distinct from its mother, and is not just a "clump of cells." [1]
With ultrasound technology, we see the baby moving around in the mother's womb.
Scientists have also documented a "flash of light that sparks when a sperm meets an egg" at conception. [2]
2. Illegality of murder:
Our country has laws against manslaughter. Therefore abortion should be illegal.
3. The Moral case for illegality:
Globally, 56 million abortions happen per year. [3]
To put this number into perspective, the most generous estimates of the holocaust pit the number of jewish deaths at 6 million throughout all 12 years. [4]
So, in one holocaust year, 500,000 jews died, but in one abortion year 56 million babies die.
To compare numbers, if we took abortion and stretched it to 12 years, 672 million babies died within an equal time span to the holocaust.
Now, abortion is a very violent process. A baby is sucked out of a woman like a crumb is sucked off a table. [5]
And if a baby somehow manages to survive this process, it is often murdered on the spot. [6]
Unconstitutionality of Abortion:
Abortion is unconstitutional due to the very first sentence of the Constitution:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." [7]
Until you can prove that abortion does not remove liberty from our posterity, then you must agree it is unconstitutional.
Our posterity has a right to life because they have a right to liberty.
The very definition of "posterity" according to Black's law Dictionary is as follows:
"All the descendants of a person in a direct line to the remotest generation. Breckinridge v. Denny, 8 Bush (Ky.) 027." [8]
This means that the Constitution protects ALL DESCENDANTS of a person's right to life. An abortion effectively takes away that right. Therefore, it is unconstitutional.
But, just to cement this further, the U.S. Code does, indeed define "child":
"A person’s 'children' are that person’s immediate offspring, whether legitimate or not, and any children legally adopted by that person." [9]
Being as "immediate offspring" is present in the womb at the moment of conception, then, clearly, their right to life is constitutionally protected and the Government has a duty to protect it since it must "provide for the common defense" of its citizens and posterity.
Therefore, constitutionally, abortion must be abolished. It deprives a posterity of the right to life, and the government must oppose such things to fulfill its constitutional duty.
References:
[1] https://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp#Science
[2] https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-just-captured-the-actual-flash-of-light-that-sparks-when-sperm-meets-an-egg
[3] https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-worldwide
[4] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution
[5] https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/abortion-procedures-surgical
[6] https://aul.org/2013/04/15/infanticide-in-america-how-many-infants-die-after-birth-in-abortion-clinics/
[7] http://constitutionus.com/
[8] https://thelawdictionary.org/posterity/
[9] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/101
Slaying propaganda with the facts.
53% (8 Points)
Against:
47% (7 Points)
Votes: 2
Debate Type: Traditional Debate
Voting Format: Casual Voting
Opponent: AlexOland
Rounds: 1
Time Per Round: 48 Hours Per Round
Voting Period: 7 Days
Round 1
Voting
Post Argument Now Debate Details +
Arguments (2) Comments (12) Votes (2)
Arguments
Murder is, as you said, manslaughter. You did not prove that the baby is a person yet, you only proved that it is alive. By your reasoning, stepping on an ant is murder.
We know that whatever makes us a person, has to be in our brain. So we can be completely sure that before the brain develops in a baby, it is not a person yet. It is not conscious. The exact time to when the baby develops consciousness and is considered a person is irrelevant to this debate. I am just trying to prove that abortion is not murder on the early stages of development.
All of your other arguments are invalid because you were not able to prove that a baby is a person.
Considerate: 86%
Substantial: 81%
Spelling & Grammar: 96%
Sentiment: Positive
Avg. Grade Level: 9.1
Sources: 0
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At the moment of fertilization, a baby has a new pair of X and Y chromosomes, DNA that is distinct from its parents, and all of the characteristics of life. [2]
Since the definition of a "person" is "a living human," and a baby growing in the womb has the genetic makeup and life necessary to be classfied as a human being, this means that a baby, from the moment of fertilization, is a human.
This point is succinctly expressed in The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (7th edition) by Keith L. Moore & T. V. N. Persaud:
"Zygote. This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm during fertilization. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo)." [3]
Biologically speaking, a baby in the womb is as much a human as you and I. A baby is alive, genetically different, and will be born into this world roughly nine months from conception.
The Illegality of abortion due to the U.S. Code:
The US Code states that a baby is alive in the womb and that killing one is equal to killing a human being:
"If the person engaging in the conduct thereby intentionally kills or attempts to kill the unborn child, that person shall instead of being punished under subparagraph (A), be punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this title for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being." [4]
This means that, legally speaking, a baby is, in fact, a person, and to abort one is equal to killing a human being.
When this is coupled with the right to life that is a mandated protection under the Constitution [5] that the U.S. Government must uphold to fulfill its constitutional duty to secure the blessings of liberty to our posterity, it becomes clear that the federal government has a duty to make abortion illegal for the sake of defending the unborn children who have a right to liberty.
Abortion effectively takes away liberty because it takes away life, and a person cannot have liberty if dead.
Therefore, abortion must be abolished.
References:
[1] https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/person
[2] https://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp#Science
[3] Textbook: The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology (7th edition). By Keith L. Moore & T. V. N. Persaud. Saunders, 2003.
[4] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1841
[5] http://constitutionus.com/
Considerate: 81%
Substantial: 73%
Spelling & Grammar: 90%
Sentiment: Negative
Avg. Grade Level: 8.92
Sources: 4
Relevant (Beta): 14%
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