That spanking should be considered child abuse

     To start with, we should define Child Abuse. I've chosen to use the US Government's definition at the federal level, as follows:

"Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker which results in death, serious physical or emotional harm,  sexual abuse or exploitation"

or

"An act or failure to act which presents an imminent risk of serious harm."

     So, to summarize, any time that a parent or caretaker causes serious harm to a child. Now, to define spanking. Merriam-Webster defines spanking in several ways, but Pro accepts "a sharp slap or blow to the buttocks usually with the palm of the hand." Note that this says "usually," meaning that spanking can happen with a paddle, belt, etc.

     Pro has serious doubts that anyone would defend striking a child with a weapon, so we will assume - for the time being - that Con does not intend to defend this form of punishment. Instead, we would like to explore the effect that spanking children has. In a piece featured by the American Psychiatric Association titled "The case against spanking," author Brendan L. Smith said as follows.

     There are a few claims here, but they are well-documented and backed up by evidence. What follows are several studies with their related conclusions summarized:

Spanking causes an increase in stress horomones in children when they have a new experience. https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/bugental/daphne/hormones&behavior.2003.pdf

Children who are spanked are more likely to act aggressively as adults. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213417304076?_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_origin=gateway&_docanchor=&md5=b8429449ccfc9c30159a5f9aeaa92ffb

Correlation between spanking and dating violence as an adult. https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(17)31377-X/fulltext

Emotional stress caused by frequent spankings cause is so great it qualifies as abuse all its own. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0273229782900077

Any other form of child punishment that had such well-defined and researched negative effects and outcomes would be considered child abuse. Does Con have a reason we should disregard this here?