human right activist ideas!!?

Question

for my speech class we are doing persuasive speeches
since i kind of act and feel like a human rights activist, i was wondering if anybody can give me any ideas for a topic to talk about

i wouldnt be asking if most of the major areas are already taken by the majority of my class... i cant think of anything unique to do since all the good ones were taken

any suggestions?
much love

Answer 1

You could choose your opinion on abortion--whether the mother's rights are valid to choose or the child's (fetus) to live.
Termination of pregnancy - The debate over acceptability of abortion is sometimes framed as a human rights issue, either of the mother (to choose), or the fetus (to live). Roe v. Wade (1973) established that most laws against abortion violate a constitutional right to privacy. However, public debate continues, and the constitutionality of both positions are frequently challenged.

You could talk about improving prisons. Tolerance of serious sexual abuse and rape in United States prisons is consistently reported as widespread. It has been fought against by organizations such as Stop Prisoner Rape, some of whom allege that some wardens use sexual abuse as a control tool in the prisons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Prisoner_Rape for more information about the group.


You could argue for or against mass surveillance.
In early 2006, several major telephone companies were found to have co-operated with covert requests by the National Security Agency to allow mass monitoring and data mining of the phone records of U.S. citizens. This report came on the heels of allegations that the U.S. government had been conducting electronic surveillance of domestic telephone calls without warrants. Many of the phone companies listed in the report have refuted this claim. In ACLU v. NSA (August 2006), the program was ruled unlawful. The ruling is suspended pending appeal. There have been further reports since that time that the NSA has also been gathering information on financial records, internet surfing habits, monitoring e-mails, and performing citizen surveillance on social networks such as Myspace.

Answer 2

Immigration Laws vs Freedom to Travel & Freedom to Work
Are we about to re-build the Berlin Wall - this time on US soil?

Voter Identification laws prevent poor people from voting.

New laws require proof of citizenship to qualify for Medicaid. Many people don't have it. Even a birth certificate is not considered adequate proof. There are thousands of "undocumented citizens."

In Phoenix, there's a guy locked up in a small hospital room, maybe for the rest of his life. He has drug-resistent TB. He was quarantined in his home, but he broke the quarantine. Now he's facing a life sentence.

Back in the 60s, my Dad was confined to a TB ward in a Veteran's hospital for about 8 months. They finally diagnosed him with Valley Fever, not TB. That caused great hardship for my father and for our family.

In third world countries, people are dying because they can't afford the high prices charged by drug companies for drugs that could be manufactured cheaply except for the high royalties.

There are a lot of women in prison for non-violent crimes who are mothers of young children. Unless the mother is a child-abuser, it does great harm to the children to be separated from their mothers.

Answer 3

T-cell debate