Can you be pro-choice and a libertarian?

[Madison320]

I lean towards being pro-choice, but I don't think it should be the defining issue for libertarians. I posted my pro-choice view in a thread here recently and was told by one guy that if you are pro-choice you don't understand life and therefore cannot be a libertarian. Is that the prevailing opinion around here? That makes no sense to me because 99.99% of the topics that are normally discussed are involving adults where we all agree what defines life. For example if we're talking about minimum wage there aren't any fetuses involved. We all agree that adults are alive and have the full set of rights. So I was wondering if that guy was an aberration or the normal in these forums.

 

[Zippyjuan]

This is a very "hot button" issue with people having strong opinions on both sides but if one is Libertarian because they believe people should be able to make their own decisions without any government interference then I think yes, a true libertarian may disagree with a decision a person makes on the issue, but must support the right of the individual to make it. A total ban on abortion is imposing ones own views on others which is not truely libertarian in my opinion.

 

[Cleaner44]

Yes, a person can be pro-choice and a libertarian. There is no one correct way to be libertarian.

 

[lib3rtarian]

Madison320, I am pro-choice and very much a libertarian. I am sympathetic towards the pro-life view, but my primary concern is about making the State a mediator in pregnancies. If the mother decides not to have the baby, you cannot protect the liberties of the fetus unless you violate the liberties and privacy of the mother and the father, and I am opposed to that. I don't want the State in my wallet or in my bedroom, so why would I want the State in our pregnancy?

Rothbard is pro-choice and has written extensively about it. No one would dispute Rothbard's libertarianism. If you must nit-pick, the pro-life "ban all abortions" folks should call themselves paleo-conservative and not libertarians.

 

[Vanguard101]

You can approach a lot of things philosophically and be libertarian so yes

 

[eduardo89]

No, you cannot. Being a libertarian means you believe that rights are inherent to our humanity and chief among those is the right to life from which all other rights are derived. If you reject the right to life you reject every other natural right.

 

[PRB]

Being pro-choice means you either don't believe the government has the power/authority/right to stop an abortion, or that it's morally wrong to stop an abortion, or that an unborn fetus has no right to live, none of these are incompatible with a small government or no government philosophy.

 

[PRB]

Yes, a person can be pro-choice and a libertarian. There is no one correct way to be libertarian.

Pro-war, pro-tax, pro-border enforcement?

 

[wizardwatson]

No, you cannot. Being a libertarian means you believe that rights are inherent to our humanity and chief among those is the right to life from which all other rights are derived. If you reject the right to life you reject every other natural right.

True, but in Rothbard's twisted world the woman homesteaded her body and has the right to expel any unwanted participants through force. Rothbard's 'rights' are derived from self-ownership as the origin. The only 'ethics' Rothbard acknowledges is that it's ethical to seek retributive justice if you are butthurt about someone violating your self-ownership. So if a woman is butthurt about having a giant tummy and unwanted pain she can defend her property from the parasite.

 

[Cleaner44]

Pro-war, pro-tax, pro-border enforcement?

Pro-liberty?

 

[eduardo89]

True, but in Rothbard's twisted world the woman homesteaded her body and has the right to expel any unwanted participants through force. Rothbard's 'rights' are derived from self-ownership as the origin. The only 'ethics' Rothbard acknowledges is that it's ethical to seek retributive justice if you are butthurt about someone violating your self-ownership. So if a woman is butthurt about having a giant tummy and unwanted pain she can defend her property from the parasite.

The fact that libertarians would use that sort of reasoning is one of the many reasons I am not a libertarian.

 

[PRB]

Pro-liberty?

there is no liberty in war, borders and taxes.

 

[Bohner]

This is a very "hot button" issue with people having strong opinions on both sides but if one is Libertarian because they believe people should be able to make their own decisions without any government interference then I think yes, a true libertarian may disagree with a decision a person makes on the issue, but must support the right of the individual to make it. A total ban on abortion is imposing ones own views on others which is not truely libertarian in my opinion.

The libertarian position is that people have the right to do what they want as long as it doesn't affect the rights of others. In other words, a libertarian's view on abortion depends on the rights they believe a fetus should have. There is no inconsistency in being a pro-life libertarian because the mothers act of aborting the child is an infringement on what a pro-life libertarian would consider the fetus' right to life.

 

[eduardo89]

A total ban on abortion is imposing ones own views on others which is not truely libertarian in my opinion.

What about the total ban on murdering those already born?

 

[PRB]

What about the total ban on murdering those already born?

that's a violation of privacy, just like sodomy laws are, telling people what they can't do in the privacy of their home is a violation of the most basic human decency.

 

[eduardo89]

that's a violation of privacy, just like sodomy laws are, telling people what they can't do in the privacy of their home is a violation of the most basic human decency.

So as long as you murder behind closed doors, it's fine.

 

[PRB]

So as long as you murder behind closed doors, it's fine.

how is that different than saying as long as you're drunk behind your own wheel and house, it's fine? what kind of Fascist logic are you arguing for? Just because you want to save a few lives you want the government in everybody's bedroom and vehicle?

 

[Paulbot99]

You can approach abortion as someone who is pro-life or pro-choice through a libertarian perspective. I personally am pro-life as I think that abortion deprives the unborn of a future the same way murder deprives you or me of a future. That is one of the principle reasons behind the stigma behind taking another's life.

Pro-choice libertarians have their own arguments.

Both types of libertarians I've met agree that it is for the states to decide and that Roe v Wade was an unlawful infringement of the 10th Amendment.

 

[Bohner]

that's a violation of privacy, just like sodomy laws are, telling people what they can't do in the privacy of their home is a violation of the most basic human decency.

 

[FindLiberty]

easy answer, MYOB = Libertarian

Burn a flag, please try not to kill a baby, reduce government 99%, sound money, back to US Constitution. That's enough for me.

My hope for this issue issue would be, use some form of birth control so the poor baby does not have to die, Geeesh!