Debate Guide: It's wrong because it's illegal

"Having sex with [kids, minors, children] is wrong, period. Because its illegal"

Nothing is wrong because it's illegal. Law is a flexible system of moral judgements, which vary according to the place on earth and the time in history. Laws, being written before and not after the act and involving nothing more than subjective judgements, have no ethical authority over the rightness of any practice. One example that demonstrates this is Homosexual sex. According to such a definition, this has gone from being 'wrong' to 'more / totally acceptable' in a number of recent societies. Homosexual sex would also be wrong in some present societies that outlaw it, but not elsewhere. If this circular reasoning fallacy held water, all forms of deregulation would be automatically immoral or potentially dangerous, meaning that there would be no acceptable reason for the repeal of any law!

Fallacies and cognitive distortions covered

• Circulus in probando fallacy: The reasoning behind this argument is a fallacious circular ("We know it is wrong because it was made illegal because it's wrong").
• Cognitive distortion: Musturbation.