Abortion Part II

 As with so many topics I thought I might address, a quick search of my prior blogs shows I’ve done so already on this topic (abortion), not so long ago, in fact.  To cut to the chase, I’m pro-LIFE, despite being Libertarian.  And no, the position does not stem from my being Catholic, rather it simply derives from what I consider the common sense conviction that life begins at conception, not birth.  Anyone inclined to read more about my particular argument, can do so below.

Chris' Blog: In Defense of the Unborn (formula57l.blogspot.com)

I’ve found there’s more I have to say on the topic.  The pro-choice crowd seems to consider it disingenuous to prohibit abortion but then withhold social welfare programs which might help a single mother now raising an unwanted baby.  I would take issue with that argument.   And here’s where Libertarians, who otherwise appear to agree with liberals on this particular topic, may actually diverge.

Most the laws we have tend to be negative:  DON’T murder each other.  DON’T steal from each other.  DON’T rape each other.  DON’T defraud each other.  We’re simply telling people what they can’t do.  It costs you nothing to NOT kill, rape, steal or defraud.  You’re simply NOT doing something. 

However, subsidizing an unmarried mother, paying for food, shelter, education, etc. are all positive things.  That is, food, school, education, health care, require you to pay someone to provide it.  It’s an affirmative duty.  If the unborn child is innocent of the circumstances of its conception, likewise the rest of society, faceless taxpayers, are also innocent of the conception itself.  The only one with an affirmative duty to support the child are its own parents, including the father.  And I’m not aware of anyone on the pro-life side of the issue proposing to make any changes to child support obligations.

Oh, one more thing.  I’m hearing this business of “men don’t have the right to decide” on the issue of abortion.  Presumably they mean pro-life men arguing that abortion should be illegal – which would include me.  Does that also include, more specifically, the father of the child at issue?  If we will hold him responsible for 18 years of child support, aren’t we also going to give him the prerogative to veto the mother’s decision to abort the child?   I will also add that there are pro-life women, and pro-choice men.  Excluding men from the debate would also ignore the former and exclude the latter as well.  To focus on the gender of the person is simply ad hominem.  If abortion should be legal, it should be; if it should be illegal, it should be.  Neither depends on whether the person making the argument has a penis or a vagina.  

In Defense of the Unborn

On a rare occasion, I’ll express a controversial political opinion, in this case, principled objection to abortion.  

Which is even more remarkable as I identify as a libertarian.  But the pro-life libertarian faction, though a minority of that already small clique of self-identified Libertarians, is by no means insubstantial.

To my knowledge I have never impregnated a woman such that she needed an abortion.  My two most substantial romantic & intimate relationships were with women past childbearing age.   Of the other women none of them became pregnant, much less aborted my child.

My position derives not from obedience to the Pope, any bishop or local Catholic priest or church, or anything directly related to the Big Guy Upstairs or his Very Cool Son.  It’s simply a conviction that terminating the life of an unborn child violates the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) and is immoral.

Libertarians cite the NAP, which means principled objection to any initiation of the use of force.   Use of force in self-defense or in retaliation for the initiation of force by another is justified.  Some may argue that an unwanted pregnancy not caused by the negligence or promiscuousness of the mother is itself an aggression and thus a violation of the principle.  But this confuses the aggressor – the father – with the child itself. 

The mother’s fault may vary from negligence all the way to rape victim, i.e. 50% to 0%.   But here’s the thing:  the unborn child is innocent of the circumstances of its conception.  The child is, by nature, 100% innocent, 0% at fault or guilty.  The only thing more unfair than forcing a woman to submit to 9 months of unwanted pregnancy and likewise the pain of childbirth is holding the child itself responsible by killing it.  

Then there’s the issue of harm.  These days, in civilized countries, the risks of pregnancy have been greatly reduced, though not to zero.  There will always be some risk of complications with a pregnancy.  But one person absolutely guaranteed to die as a result of an abortion is the child itself.  Moreover, I have siblings, and many others do.  If pregnancy and/or childbirth was “bad”, we would all be only children as our mothers would refuse to bear more than one child after experiencing the pain and inconvenience of the first pregnancy and birth.   

Another issue is that many couples want to have children but cannot.  That includes not merely gays and lesbians who are unsuitably equipped, but also plenty of straight but infertile couples.  Carrying the baby to term and offering it for adoption by childless couples strikes me as a far more appropriate answer to an unwanted pregnancy than abortion – in addition to being in the baby’s own best interests.  This also addresses the issue of an unwanted baby being raised in an unwanted household, by a single mother, or all sorts of other situations in unwanted pregnancies used to justify abortion instead of making some effort to find a suitable family for the child.  Again, the child itself is unquestionably innocent.

Whether to ban it or not is a more difficult question for me to answer.  Technically I consider it the murder of an innocent child.  “It’s my body,” may assert female pro-choicers, but that’s not completely accurate.  No other part of your body will emerge 9 months later as a human being.  An embryo or fetus is in a unique position as such.  Ideally, abortion should be illegal.  Sadly, women will insist on having them whether they’re legal or not.  But the fact that murder itself still occurs is not reason to allow people to do so legally.  And I can’t help concluding that terminating the life of an unborn child is murder. 

Decide amongst yourselves.