Answer choice D

Assumption Qs don't mention article. They expect you to assume what weakens or strengthens.

@flavio @dangelo1 Carl's argument is that "if lawmakers were as concerned about human beings as they seem to be about animals, there would be pain protocols for human beings too." Debbie tries to counter this by stating, "a person for whom a doctor wants to schedule surgery can simply be told what pain to expect and can then decide whether or not to undergo the operation." Debbie is clearly assuming that every surgery is performed on patients who can be communicated with and who can make decisions, which would obviously make such pain protocols pointless for human patients. (C) does not weaken because the fact that preparing pain protocols is a not time-consuming or costly procedure is not relevant to Debbie's response because Debbie is assuming these pain protocols are completely useless since patients can simply be told what pain to expect and make a decision. (D) on the other hand clearly weakens by pointing out a group of patients that Debbie has overlooked in her argument. Doctors would not be able to communicate with infants regarding the pain they should expect from a surgical operation and infants would also not be able to make a decision as to whether or not to undergo the operation. The fact that infants were not discussed in the arguments is completely irrelevant. This is not a Must Be True question. This is a Weaken question and the question stem asks to you assume the answer choices are true (i.e. Which one of the following, if true..."). If (D) is true, it clearly weakens Debbie's response. Hope that helps! Please let us know if you have any other questions.