A Libertarian Case For Pro-Choice

Being the debate lover that I am, I found myself early this morning - drowsy eyed with a cup of Maxwell coffee to my right - engaged in a heated chat with some Pro-Life libertarians over Facebook.

It wasn't exactly an argument for academia. After all, abortion is a touchy topic for most. Not to mention that the midst of passion has never been an easy place to gather one's thoughts and think openly or critically about much of anything (that is why I write blog posts to help keep my head on straight).

Fortunate for me, I made sure I stayed on my best behavior and remained polite, even as ridicules and threats were catapulted at me like tomatoes at a bad comedian. To them, any acceptance of abortion made me pro-murder, pro-sin, and at times even pro-eugenics (after which one told me to watch the "documentary" MAAFA 21).

"Stop believing the Planned Parenthood propaganda!" I was first yelled at, even though I've never associated or read anything by the organization. Another says, "95% of abortions are done for cosmetic reasons," but upon requesting a source for the statistic none could be presented. I shrugged. Nothing strange here - just your typical internet dialogue.

I ran into all the pro-life talking points and muscled some responses in when I could, all while biting my tongue and hoping the bubbling anger in the back of my brain would subside. Thankfully there were some other outliers to support my position (who, of course, were deemed "on the fringe"), but by the end of the conversation we had all gotten nowhere.

Point 1: Abortion is a complicated and private matter.

In truth, I think the best of both sides bring some rationality to their arguments. For Pro-Lifers, life begins at conception, and that life should be protected like any other. I tend to agree with this notion. As a spiritual person, I do find sanctity in all life. I think life, wherever present, is something worth caring for and protecting. But the question is: who has the authority to be the protector on the issue of pregnancy: the mother or a political majority?

Pro-Lifers are also right to point out that abortion might become a tool of convenience or abuse. If abortion is an easy ticket, this may encourage careless and irresponsible behavior. This is a worthwhile concern. But even those who are Pro-Choice would agree that an abortion is never a good thing. Educational measures should be taken to inform teens and adults in order to keep abortions at a minimum.

The extreme Pro-Life stance that "all abortion is murder" oversimplifies the issue. There are situations where abortion could be the best logical course of action; the most obvious one being when the mother's own life is in jeopardy.

In the real world, medical problems occur. Today we are fortunate enough to have the technology to identify issues and measure risk before a medical procedure takes place. If a mother knows she has a 90% risk of dying at birth why deny her the option to save her own life? How does that not sound unethical?

What if a mother doesn't think she is financially or psychologically ready to bear a child? Sure she has the option to put the baby up for adoption, but 9 months of pregnancy doesn't come without costs. It affects individual's school work, career, relationships, health, upon other things. If an individual can identify she is pregnant within the first few weeks - might it just make more sense to opt out of the process completely and minimize the pain and suffering?

Because "abortion" encompasses an action that can be committed from a diverse array of viewpoints, intentions, and rationality, it is naive and irresponsible to altogether dismiss of the act. Bureaucrats and politicians gathered in a distant room in Washington D.C. cannot possibly understand the situations facing every mother who considers abortion. Why not then leave that decision to the individuals most personally involved?

Point 2: Right to self-ownership.

Does one own one's own body? Should an individual not be the sole authority over what he or she consumes or produces from one's own biology or labor?

The right that libertarians should adhere to in the case of abortion is the right to self-ownership. This means that individuals are sovereign over the processes and productions of their own body, not politicians. An embryo may be a living thing, but - in its current state - it is not a sovereign biological being anymore than someone's heart or kidney. Why should its rights supersede the rights of its host?

In the words of Ayn Rand:

"A piece of protoplasm has no rights—and no life in the human sense of the term. One may argue about the later stages of a pregnancy, but the essential issue concerns only the first three months. To equate a potential with an actual, is vicious; to advocate the sacrifice of the latter to the former, is unspeakable. . . . Observe that by ascribing rights to the unborn, i.e., the nonliving, the anti-abortionists obliterate the rights of the living: the right of young people to set the course of their own lives. The task of raising a child is a tremendous, lifelong responsibility, which no one should undertake unwittingly or unwillingly. Procreation is not a duty: human beings are not stock-farm animals. For conscientious persons, an unwanted pregnancy is a disaster; to oppose its termination is to advocate sacrifice, not for the sake of anyone’s benefit, but for the sake of misery qua misery, for the sake of forbidding happiness and fulfillment to living human beings."

While I disagree with Rand's somewhat callous tone, I think her reason is sound. We cannot grant individual rights to a bunch of cells that have the potential to be life anymore than we can grant rights to an ejaculation of sperm (who also have a potential to be life). To think the rights of bundles of cells override the rights of already conscious and rational-thinking individual is, in my opinion, a severe misstep in judgment.

Point 3: Individual responsibility and consequence.

Our actions are never outside the realm of responsibility and consequence. Those who choose abortion do not escape the psychological or emotional hardship that comes from undergoing such an act. However much Pro-Lifers may assert that Pro-Choicers are numb or insensitive to life, they are not sociopaths (although, certainly, some could be).

If libertarians are going to preach responsibility then they need to allow individuals to exercise that responsibility - this means respecting others' free will. Without giving individuals the opportunity to choose between "right" and "wrong," there is no sense of morality in one's actions, only manipulation and force.

A million women who bare children out of "duty" or "fear of punishment" but who end up being awful mothers because they never had the will or desire to raise children in the first place is not a preferable outcome for any society. A free society must respect the right of adults who don't want to reproduce. You cannot force someone to be a parent, let alone a good one.

If an individual has an abortion but later regrets it, that is their own private matter. Perhaps foolish ways led to their pregnancy and so it came at a bad time. Or maybe they went about the abortion process in an apathetic and cold-blooded way. Whatever the case may be, without law, these individuals will still feel the karmic repercussions of their blunders.

Education that fosters a strong sense of responsibility and moral will is the best way to make sure careless abortions don't become out of control. It is our duty as a society to educate others based on our own experience and reason.

Outlawing abortion doesn't create a society with moral fiber, and sometimes it can even perpetuate greater evils and monstrosities.

Point 4: Illegality creates a dangerous black market.

Abortion exists presumably because individuals have seen it to be in their best-interest. As I mentioned above, the best way to change people's values is through education and reason. Simply making all abortion illegal isn't going to get rid of abortion anymore than alcohol prohibition in the 1920s got rid of alcohol.

Whenever the government bans a desirable product or service it creates a black market. We see this today in America's "War On Drugs." Because substances like marijuana are illegal, consumers are put into a situation where they must deal with "criminals" to get what they want. The very nature of a black market must therefore be hidden from the light of everyday eyes - this creates an environment where crime and violence flourish.

The same holds true for anti-abortion laws. The more difficult abortion is to obtain on the market, the more risks an individual will need to face on the black market in order to get one. If abortion is illegal, few licensed doctors will be willing to risk their careers to perform a legitimate medical abortion. Pregnant women will have to settle for less quality: doctors with suspended licenses, pseudo-doctors, and shoddy equipment.

In a worst case scenario women will even perform abortion on themselve by ODing on drugs or using tools and appliances they find around the house. This is only to end in more suffering for both the mother and the embryo/fetus.

Is this really a situation we want pregnant women to be in? Do we really want them to be forced to go into dark alleys to find someone who says they will perform an abortion (at a hefty fee)?

Keeping abortion legal will help prevent this. It will allow pregnant women to use clean and authorized facilities where danger and risk is minimized in a professional manner.

Summary

The case against legalizing abortion just doesn't add up in any political, moral, economical, or practical sense. While an embryo is a form of life, it is not yet a sovereign, rational and conscious human being. The rights of the not-yet-living cannot supersede the rights of the already living, unless a third party imposes force on the living.

Contrary to sensationalist Pro-Lifers, abortion is not an easy decision for anybody. There are responsibilities and consequences that come with the action but that is for each and every pregnant women to bear on her own private accord. It is not a matter for politicians or a coercive majority.

Perhaps the best argument for legalizing abortion are the consequences that come from banning it. Abortions aren't going to go away through force, black markets will always pop up to satisfy consumers demand. Black markets always create an environment that turns people into criminals. It is a place where abortion malpractice would flourish.

Less abortions is never a bad goal, but we need to understand what is the best and most sensible way of achieving such a goal. Draconian laws accompanied by dogmatic beliefs are never the answer. We need to think more rationally - this means: protecting free choice.