Pro-Rights (Pro-Abortion) Vs. Pro-Rights (Anti-Abortion) Debates.

I was part of a graded debate in class on the 3rd Oct '05, Monday. The topic as you can see is "Pro-Rights Vs. Pro-Life". I am one of the speaker of the affirmation team, which means that I am to make statements supporting abortion.

1st of all, I am a Christian, I don't support abortion. Sadly... I was the one in my team who came up with the most points to rebut "Pro-Rights" claim. I categorized 8 different viewpoints into 8 cards which I can easily pass to my team members if they need it to rebut any of the opposition speaker. Our team was praised for our great rebuttal effort at the end of the debate... I wished I could have being the opposition team thou...

I had a good friend, Briony, who is also a Christian. She study fashion design and had to be exposed to controversial themes and styles. She mentioned that as a designer and a Christian, it is important to keep your Christian values and yet keep an open mind to worldly issues in the fashion industry.

Here I am, as a health care trainee, I have to keep my sanity to debated with passion like a non-Christian. However it taught me one thing, although Christians are anti-abortion (and I am anti-abortion) but there are many people out there who don't share the same view. We can only influence them and not force them to make such decisions. God after all gave humans freewill.


For study purpose, let's have a look at the SCENARIO of the debate.

Mrs. Tan, a 37 year-old bank manager, is 10 weeks pregnant. Ultrasound scan showed that the baby was of the female sex. Mrs. Tan already has 3 daughters. Both she and her husband want a son. Mrs. Tan decided to have an abortion. Another reason she cited is that she needs to travel abroad often for work. She felt that she will not be able to cope with this 4th pregnancy and parenthood.
STATEMENT:
Abortion should be a decision made by the pregnant woman. The mother's rights should prevail.

I will not go through with te details of the points being brought up in the debate (I can't remember anyway). But here are the 8 possible viewpoints the opponent team can try to come up with and how I had planned to rebut them. The points which was brought up during the debate will be coloured red where else those that were not mentioned will be in cyan.


Religion is Against Abortion?
Ø Christianity believes that God gave man freewill. Islam advocate peace and is against forceful actions. Religion does not compile people to believe if they do not want to.
Ø Section 15 of the Constitution of The Republic of Singapore states that every individual has the right to religion freedom.
Ø Therefore, no one have the rights to force their religious belief, be it abortion or smoking or drinking so long as it does not violate the Laws.

Foetus Rights?
Ø Dr. Parker states that the foetus is incapable to live when separated from the mother and therefore it is part of the mother. Like a finger or toe. Being part of the mother, the mother thus has the right to decide what she wants to do with the foetus.
Ø Lewis said that the foetus is only a potential human and not an actual human and thus have no actual human rights.
Ø E.g. A 10yr old child is a potential voter before he reaches 21yrs old. However, until he reaches 21yrs old, he cannot exercise the right to vote.

The Foetus is Alive? Abortion is Murder?
Ø The foetus is alive, it can feel pain, it is flesh and blood, it has human DNA… and so is our arms, our legs and our organs!
Ø Dr. Parker states that the foetus is incapable to live when separated from the mother and therefore it is part of the mother. Like a finger or toe.
Ø E.g. If a limb is gangrenous, the patient is advised to remove it to prevent it from causing more harm. If the foetus is going to be the cause of physical or psychological hurt to both the mother and the baby, shouldn’t the mother have the rights to abortion in this case?
Ø [MURDER?] Also, cutting off a finger or any of your own body part is not murder! According to the Law, abortion is not considered murder. Murder is the killing of an actual human being, not a potential human being like the foetus.

Danger of Abortion?
Ø Abortion is dangerous, giving birth is also dangerous! Labour complications can also be fatal!
Ø WHO states that more than half a million women died in pregnancy or childbirth.
Ø If abortion is discouraged because it is risky, then giving birth should also be discouraged.
Ø And if that’s the case, sex lead to pregnancy and pregnancy leads to labour, might as well ban sex.

Government Encourage More Babies?
Ø In a democratic country, The Government can only encourage and not force couples to have more babies.
Ø According to the case scenario, the client already have 3 children, aren’t they already heeding the call to have more babies?
Ø The Law states that abortion is legal; no one can be above the Law.
Ø Anyway, the Government did not out rightly discourage abortion, they only encourage more babies.

The Law States That It Is Illegal to Abort a Foetus that is above 24 weeks?
Ø Please stay within the context of the case scenario, our client is only 10 weeks pregnant and therefore have the right to abort. We felt that the opposition has cited this point out of context.

Father’s Right?
Ø Abortion is a procedure performed on the women’s body. No one, not even the husband can make the decision for the client.
Ø Even in nursing ethnic, we have to advocate the client’s right to privacy and not interfere with the client’s decision making.

Emotions?
Ø No one have the rights to force their emotion on someone else.
Ø You sympathy for the unborn foetus need not necessary means the mother must feel the same way as you do.
Ø What is someone’s joy may be someone else's misery.
Ø E.g. the end of a war means the coming of peace and the end of bloodshed. However, the country that had victory will rejoice but the defeated country will be mourning.


As I am in the pro-rights team, the arguements are mostly for pro-abortion. Let me say this again, I am anti-abortion and pro-life. I set up this post to create awareness to the kind of opposing viewpoints people could have and I believe it is important to know how pro-abortionist could argue if you are also an anti-abortionist like me.