The Party as a Whole Agrees to Disagree on Abortion
The abortion debate has been one that has plagued our country for several decades. Now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned, the debate still finds its way into everyday conversations.
Everyone knows where the Republicans and Democrats stand on the topic. Those on the far-left shame anyone who is pro-life as being “misogynistic” or “authoritarian.” Whereas those on the far-right label anyone who is pro-choice as “baby killers” or “murderers.”
However, as writer Bekah Congdon points out in an article published on the Libertarian Party website, Americans are less divided than some might think. “Pew Research finds that 60% of Americans polled think that abortion should be legal in some or most cases with 26% saying it should be illegal in most cases, and only 13% saying illegal in all cases,” Congdon reports.
But perhaps until recently, the Libertarian party was one political group that took a neutral stance on the topic. According to an article published on the Republican Views website in 2019, even though all Libertarians didn’t necessarily agree with abortion, they took a neutral stance and saw it as “not a government issue,” based on the thought that the government should have very little to do with how people live their daily lives.
“In Libertarian thought, many controversial or polarizing issues are seen in a more practical manner,” Republican Views reported. “Recognizing that some issues may never be agreed upon, even among their party members, Libertarians wish to establish neutrality on certain matters that cannot bring consensus.”
But since the issue has become more of a hot topic in the last year, there are now articles published from Libertarians who are both pro-life and pro-choice. As Liz Wolfe recently wrote in Reason Magazine, “Survey data on Libertarians are hard to come by, but a 2008 survey found that one-third of Libertarians are pro-life. A 2013 Public Religion Research Institute report, meanwhile, found that 57 percent of Libertarians opposed making abortion access more difficult.”
The Pro-Life Libertarian Argument
The Libertarians who differ on the abortion debate both have personal freedoms in mind. An article published on the Learn Liberty website explains why some in the party choose to be pro-life. “They believe that the fetus is a living human being with its own rights, thus aborting the fetus is a violation of the baby’s bodily autonomy as it results in the death of a living being against its will,” author Swapnarka Arnan reports.
Wolfe’s article also brings up how Libertarians were against Roe v. Wade because it meant more federal control. The Libertarian party believes that more power should be put in local governments and less power on a national level. Therefore, the overturning of Roe v. Wade means that the decision will be left up to the states, giving more local control on the issue.
But even though some members of the Libertarian party label themselves as pro-life, some of them still think that the government should not step in and regulate abortions. “As a pro-life, anti-legislation Libertarian, I believe that there is sufficient evidence elsewhere in the world that anti-abortion laws do significantly more harm than good,” Brent DeRidder writes on the Libertarian Party of North Carolina’s website. “Therefore, the most effective way I can combat abortion is by offering education, strong arguments within civil discourse, and, most importantly, push for advancements in science and deregulation of adoption so that there are more viable alternatives to abortion.”
The Pro-Choice Libertarian Stance on Abortion
As the statistics show, most Libertarians consider themselves pro-choice. The stance once again comes from a viewpoint of freedom and limited government control.
Author Arnan explains why some Libertarians choose to be pro-choice the best. “The answer is actually very simple: they believe that the fetus in the womb is not yet an independent human life and thus the mother has the right to abort the fetus because it is an issue of her bodily autonomy.”
But again, even some pro-choice Libertarians have different opinions when it comes to Roe v. Wade. “I do think maintaining the proper operation of our Republic, including its intentional federal design, is important,” stated a self-declared pro-choice Libertarian on the Libertarian Party website. “Roe v Wade, while in accordance with my desires on a policy level, was clearly stretching the intent of the Constitution in order to legislate from the bench and should be overturned for that reason.”
Even though Libertarians seem to have different opinions on the subject these days, most can still agree that it is an issue of personal freedom. And the party mostly agrees that it is a subject that doesn’t belong on the political battlefield.
