Abortion Paper
I will be accepting two formats for the Abortion Paper
Debate format.
In this format you essentially have two papers: in one you will defend why
abortion should be legal, and in the other why abortion should be illegal.
Remember this is a question on the legality of abortion, not a discussion on
morality. Also important to notice that religious texts and mandates should
not be used as we live in a country whose government is not a theocracy,
therefore we have separation of church and state.
Compromising Legislation
Since opinions on the legality of abortion will always vary among the
community, perhaps a compromising legislation would be appropriate.
Should legislation be punitive or preventive? Does making all abortions
against the law diminish their numbers? (is abortion rarer in countries where
abortion is illegal?). If abortions still happen in countries where abortion is
illegal what are the consequences of this law to public health? If the
objective of law is not punitive but preventive, are there countries with lower
abortion rates? How they achieve this advantage? Is there variation in
abortion numbers within the states in the USA? How do they vary? Is there
information to be extracted from those facts that would help us devise
pragmatic programs/legislation with the objective of diminishing abortion
rates? Is there are correlation between abortion rates, STDs and teen
pregnancy rates nationally? Internationally?
For every Idea I want to hear pro and cons arguments
“
Category
5
4
3
2
1
Respect for
Other Idea
All statements,
and responses
were respectful
and were
in appropriate
language.
Statements and
responses
were respectful
and used
appropriate
language, but
the tone was not.
Most statements
and
responses were
respectful
and in
appropriate
language, but
there was
some sarcastic
remarks.
Statements,
responses and/or
language
were borderline
appropriate.
Statements,
responses and/or
body language
were
consistently
not respectful.
Information
All information
presented
in this debate
was clear,
accurate and
thorough.
Most
information
presented in this
debate
was clear,
accurate and
thorough.
Most
information
presented in the
debate
was clear and
accurate, but
was not usually
thorough.
Some
information
was accurate,
but
there were some
minor
inaccuracies.
Information had
some major
inaccuracies OR
was usually not
clear.
Counterarguments
All counterarguments
were accurate,
relevant
and strong.
Most counterarguments
were accurate,
relevant,
and strong.
Most counterarguments
were accurate
and
relevant, but
several were
weak.
Some counter
arguments were
weak and
irrelevant.
Counterarguments
were not
accurate
and/or relevant.
Use of
Facts/
Statistics
Every major
point was
well supported
with
several relevant
facts,
statistics and/or
examples.
Every major
point was
adequately
supported with
relevant facts,
statistics
and/or
examples.
Every major
point was
supported with
facts,
statistics and/or
examples,
but the
relevance of
some
was
questionable.
Some points
were
supported well,
others were not.
Every point was
not supported.
Organization
All arguments
were
clearly tied to an
idea
(premise) and
organized in
a tight, logical
fashion.
Most arguments
were
clearly tied to an
idea
(premise) and
organized in
a tight, logical
fashion.
All arguments
were
clearly tied to an
idea(premise)
but the
organization
was sometimes
not clear/logical.
Arguments were
not tied well to
an
idea.
Arguments were
not tied to an
idea
at all.
Pro
life
Pro
choice