{"id":45956,"date":"2014-02-05T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2014-02-05T16:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=45956"},"modified":"2014-02-10T14:30:43","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T19:30:43","slug":"my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/","title":{"rendered":"My debate with a pro-abortion libertarian"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"1395769_10151744495673531_59004482_n\"<\/a>The past two weeks, J.D. Bridges of TowardLiberty.com<\/a> and I have been having an interesting debate about libertarianism and abortion. Our debate started with my article \u201c2014\u2019s March for Life: C\u2019mon, Libertarians!<\/a>,” which argued that libertarians should view all abortions as violations of unborn babies\u2019 rights to life, to liberty, and to determine their own fates. Before the March<\/a>, we went back<\/a> and forth<\/a> over Bridges\u2019 claim that \u201ca woman has a property right in her body\u201d and so \u201cabortion … is not murder but really eviction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Bridges\u2019 view is widespread among libertarians. Just last week and in reference to 2014\u2019s March for Life, Laurie Rice of the Atlas Society<\/a>, a libertarian research organization, said<\/a> the \u201c[p]ro-life [view] … means initiating force against women to separate them from the ownership of their own bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last week, Bridges doubled down<\/a> on his claim that abortions are \u201cevictions from the womb\u201d and not murder. Bridges agreed with me that mothers invite unborn children into their wombs by having sex. Nevertheless, with the following analogy to a party host, Bridges suggested that women can still \u201cevict\u201d their unborn guests because nine months can take forever:<\/p>\n

When one throws a party, one expects guests. But implicit acceptance of this fact does not lead the host to accept that his guests will remain with him for 9 months. The host would only accept that his guests will remain with him until the party is over. If it\u2019s his party, is it not on his time?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, Bridges\u2019 party host analogy is weak and unconvincing. Bridges should note that, because average pregnancies last nine months, mothers\u2019 invites to their unborn children are for periods longer than any party. Also, as Randy England noted on p. 59 of his book Free is Beautiful: Why Catholics Should Be Libertarian<\/i><\/a> (2012), it\u2019s nature that forces unborn babies into their mothers\u2019 wombs. No party hosts force guests to attend their parties in this way.<\/p>\n

Bridges also argued that abortions are similar to when building owners evict \u201cproblem people\u201d from their buildings. For instance, Bridges argued that a restaurant owner could evict, say, a visitor who unfortunately falls into a coma in the restaurant.<\/p>\n

But again Bridges is wrong. Such evictions by building owners of \u201cproblem people\u201d rarely, if ever, kill the \u201cproblem people.\u201d For instance, in Bridges\u2019 analogy of the restaurant owner and comatose man, the comatose man most likely had access to alternative properties to survive after his eviction. For example, the comatose man\u2019s family members or Catholic hospitals could have helped him. Conversely, unborn babies facing \u201cevictions from the womb\u201d have no alternative places to live. Also, by evicting the comatose man, the restaurant owner never placed him in actual danger, such as in oncoming traffic. But during abortions, mothers expose their unborn babies to mortal danger.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, it\u2019s possible for building owners to commit murder by evicting \u201cproblem people.\u201d I wonder if Bridges would legally permit the actions of Jen, a house owner, who evicted Beth, her adopted \u201cproblem child,\u201d in my following scenario:<\/p>\n

Jen, a single woman, adopted a 3-year-old girl named Beth, and they lived in a remote house in Alaska. There were no other shelters for 100 miles. The adoption agency told Jen that Beth could often be annoying, as Beth liked to playfully kick people and could be restless. But Jen adopted Beth anyway. Unsurprisingly, after a couple months Beth exasperated Jen with restless antics. Jen\u2019s stress affected her sleep and caused nausea on many mornings, which the adoption agency warned could happen. So one winter day Jen evicted Beth, and Jen gave Beth nothing to survive outside. The temperature was way below freezing, so Beth died within minutes. <\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I believe that Beth\u2019s eviction was murder, because similar to unborn babies facing \u201cevictions from the womb,\u201d Beth had access to no alternative shelters to survive and faced direct, mortal danger given the frigid weather. Since Jen invited Beth into her life and home through adoption, and Beth had no choice but to live with Jen, Jen assumed the moral and legal duty to not endanger Beth.<\/p>\n

In another argument, Bridges implied that pro-life libertarians who accept the restaurant owner\u2019s right to evict the comatose man from his restaurant should at least permit mothers seeking abortion to take a \u201cdrug that blocks the flow of nutrients from mother to fetus.\u201d According to Bridges, such a drug would simply deprive unborn babies of access to their mothers\u2019 property.<\/p>\n

But yet again, Bridges is wrong. Such a drug would obstruct natural processes for unborn babies to live, just as suffocating someone already born would obstruct his or her air flow.<\/p>\n

As demonstrated, Bridges and other libertarians who argue that abortions are simply \u201cevictions from the womb\u201d are really justifying murder. But these libertarians must concede that unborn babies also have property rights in their bodies and that mothers\u2019 property rights can\u2019t supersede unborn babies\u2019 rights to \u201clife, liberty, and property<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The past two weeks, J.D. Bridges of TowardLiberty.com and I have been having an interesting debate about libertarianism and abortion. Our debate started with my article \u201c2014\u2019s March for Life: C\u2019mon, Libertarians!,” which argued that libertarians should view all abortions as violations of unborn babies\u2019 rights to life, to liberty, and to determine their own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":43870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy debate with a pro-abortion libertarian - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My debate with a pro-abortion libertarian - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The past two weeks, J.D. Bridges of TowardLiberty.com and I have been having an interesting debate about libertarianism and abortion. Our debate started with my article \u201c2014\u2019s March for Life: C\u2019mon, Libertarians!,” which argued that libertarians should view all abortions as violations of unborn babies\u2019 rights to life, to liberty, and to determine their own […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-05T16:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-10T19:30:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1395769_10151744495673531_59004482_n.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Smyth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Smyth\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Smyth\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/2f4f17970440b3cfffa6807a9d6b110c\"},\"headline\":\"My debate with a pro-abortion libertarian\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-05T16:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-10T19:30:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\"},\"wordCount\":837,\"commentCount\":53,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/my-debate-with-a-pro-abortion-libertarian\/\",\"name\":\"My debate with a pro-abortion libertarian - 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