Reply #147: While I would agree with you, in a large part... [View All]

Morally speaking, I really don't have a problem with abortion in the case where it comes down to choosing the fetus or the mother's life. Where I think MOST people have a moral problem with abortion is when it is used as a form of birth control.

However, I believe that such individuals are -rare-, and are by far not the norm. In fact far from it. I believe the specter of women using abortion as a form of birth control is a specter created by the right. Abortion is, in no way shape or form, pleasant. It is also a medical procedure that does not come without risk.

Although, let us say for the sake of argument that 90% of all abortions were used as a form of birth control. Then who gets to determine what is and is not medically necessary? The doctor or the government? That is really where the libertarian side of things kick in, I believe that such choices should be left up to the individual and their doctor. Once you open the door and allow the government to place restrictions on something like abortion, they will continue to push until it is repealed entirely – even in the cases of the mother's life.

Additionally, I don't believe that such measures work. We know from the past that even when abortion was outlawed, there were still back alley abortion clinics who preformed the procedure, often in DANGEROUS and UNSANITARY conditions.

The same goes for prohibition against alcohol and pot. When there was a prohibition against alcohol, did it stop drinking? No. It drove people who wanted to drink underground and created a black market run by criminals. Is the prohibition against pot stopping people who want to use it? No. It has driven them underground, locks up those who are caught with it, creating a burden on society, and created a black market run by criminals.

From our past history of when abortion was outlawed the same thing happened. It is thus, for someone who is a left libertarian, not only more intelligent to allow such a thing to be legal (because people are going to do it anyway), but safer for the individual and society as a whole. It is safer for the individual because they can be certain whomever is performing the abortion, offering the pot, or the alcohol knows what they are doing or are offering an authentic product. If they perform malpractice, or offer you a false product, or somehow cause you harm there is a legal recourse against them. For society it reduces criminal elements because it brings what was once criminalized out of the shadows and into the light, where it can be transparently observed by society.

So while **I** may oppose abortions as a form of birth control, I am aware of the implications of my actions should I seek to outlaw it in an authoritarian manner. Thus, if I am opposed to such a thing, it makes sense for me to pursue other methods to make it unnecessary, such as free sex education and birth control. This then does not criminalize the act of having an abortion, but eliminates the need for it as a form of birth control.

This is, in essence, how left libertarian philosophy is applied to a real world problem.