The issue of abortion renders an opportunity for the libertarian political ethic to shine. It is time for libertarians to take advantage of that opportunity.
The American social and political consciousness has long debated the issue of abortion. Like many other culture war issues, abortion pits religious conservatism against individual autonomy. Americans have observed this playing out over the last 200 years with anti-abortion laws beginning in the 1860s, the legalization of abortion occurring nationally under Roe v. Wade in 1973, and the ongoing polarized debates since. Now, a leaked decision from the Supreme Court warns of overturning Roe. Resultantly, some Americans are grieving their loss of choice. Others are celebrating the unborn lives they will no longer need to grieve. Where do libertarians land? Where should they land?
Abortion is especially fraught as it conglomerates moral, religious, sexual, scientific, and gendered questions. Contra what some social conservatives claim, no one desires to take this issue lightly. Leftists do not celebrate opportunities for abortion; they merely hold fast to the idea that the choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal, emotional, and challenging decision that should be made without government involvement. Abortion is never a first choice. I have never gotten the jarring news of an unwanted pregnancy and have never grappled with such a decision. But I know many people who have. I have held the hands of young women, eager to breathe life into another individual one day, but not now, partnerless or jobless or mentally incapacitated. And if I were to receive that news that I was with child, I don’t know how I would respond. The need to get an abortion scares me on a personal basis–it would be an emotionally trying, uncomfortable, and exhausting endeavor–but the prospect of raising a child and cultivating a life in sub-optimal conditions would be all the more so. These are the personal factors I would need to weigh and that we must give every American the opportunity to weigh through protecting choice.
Most Americans are similarly uncomfortable with and unsure about abortion. Many believe that, for them, personally, abortion would be immoral or destructive. Perhaps this view would change in the face of an unwanted pregnancy. Perhaps not. But isn’t this the power of choice? That nobody else has the right to decide when and how you become a parent, and that others cannot impose upon your body (your property) without your unambiguous consent. Every parent should be willing and every child should be wanted. This exemplifies freedom and enables the individual human flourishing libertarians prize.
Libertarians have also long argued that outlawing does not equate elimination. A common claim is that the war on drugs has emboldened underground– and often violent–drug organizations and use. Thus, the effect of legal control has not been increased safety or the preservation of life, but rather the opposite: violence and death. A limit on abortion will produce a similar effect. Criminalization only drives the already desperate act of abortion into further desperation as women seek procedures across state or national borders, in back-alley clinics, or within their homes, without medical guidance. Moreover, abortion rates decrease in countries where it is made legal, demonstrating that making abortion illegal does not actually advance the pro-life position’s stated goal of preserving the lives of the unborn. This is a losing situation for all.
What makes abortion politics fertile ground for a progressive-libertarian alliance is that the progressive position focuses on the libertarian rhetoric of choice. Beyond this basis of choice, which exemplifies the libertarian principles of individual liberty, self-ownership, and self-determination in one-fell-swoop, this is also an issue of limited government. Abortion should not be presided over by elected officials as they are not medical professionals nor moral confidants. At the libertarian core is a desire to minimize an individual’s regulation by the state through limited government. Not only does this facilitate coexistence but it also enables the laissez faire social code wherein adults have the means and right to make their own decisions. These concerns about bodily autonomy and government overreach are held not just by pro-choice progressives but also by many independents and Republicans too, suggesting that more libertarian framings of limited government are a good way for pro-choice progressives to make their case.
In fact, a comprehensive libertarian framing may very well be the exact language the pro-choice camp needs to bolster support for their coalition. The left boasts their inclusive language and attitude. Yet, sometimes, they can struggle with a framing that includes Americans of all socioeconomic, academic, and geographic backgrounds. In this quest for inclusivity, many policy platforms, practices, and petitions for change sound alien and inaccessible to many middle-class, rural, and non-college Americans. These are also the very Americans with the power to determine the outcomes of impending elections. Inclusion is vital and can be transformational, but not if it simultaneously alienates. A libertarian mindset could be the antidote to the currently dismembered pro-choice coalition.
Within this coalition, it must also be understood that abortion access cannot also fall ill to preclusion. All people regardless of where they live, what they look like, how much money they have, where they were born, if they have insurance, how they are employed, what their racial identity is, etc. should have access to abortion when they feel it necessary. For every parent to be willing and every child to be wanted, access to abortion has to be accessible in practice, not just legal in theory. Otherwise, abortion will become a privilege of the few that does not genuinely extend individual liberty, self-ownership, and self-determination. Overturning abortion will harm the poorest and most excluded women in our nation. The fight to preserve choice must also maintain and expand choice for those individuals.
Abortion is not heading in either party’s direction, per public opinion polling by Pew Research Center’s Andrew Kohut. This creates a key voting market for not only libertarians but also a Progressive-Libertarian coalition. The coalition can agree that ending abortion will not come simply by passing a law, reducing agency, and infringing on choice. Instead, respect and dignity -values libertarians and progressives share– should drive the groups to trust in an individual’s ability to determine their own needs with the help of a medical professional. This is the best way for the nation to facilitate coexistence, self-determination, and a choice-oriented democracy. It is the best way for every parent to be willing and every child to be wanted.