Speaking Out: The Right of Choice (April 1973)

Many libertarians have cheered the January 22 Supreme Court decision on abortion, but, as one individual suggested, perhaps we should only applaud with one hand. The right to life and to one’s own body is the right to be free to take any action necessary for the support, fulfillment and enjoyment of one’s self, and to be free from all physical coercion, compulsion or interference by any individual or group. This right is not fully recognized in the Supreme Court decision. Either you have a right to your own life unconditionally, or you do not have it at all. There can be no such thing as a three-month right to your own body.

If these justices had ruled that the state has no authority to regulate abortion, or that the state does have the authority to regulate abortion, they would have been interpreting the law in the context of the constitution. This is their proper function. Instead, they wrote their own law.

Interestingly enough, this is unconstitutional. However, the court provided the solution to the problem in its own ruling. A state need not have any law dealing with abortion at all, according to their decision.

Total repeal of all abortion laws would be ideal because it would make the state neutral on the issue, and would recognize the real right to life, i.e., the right of choice. Any woman who desired to give birth could do so; any woman who desired an abortion could have one. No woman would be forced to take an action; the choice would be left to her own individual decision and judgment. This is as it should be. No other individual or group has a right to make that decision for her by the use of legalized force.

Any law that attempts to force a woman to give birth is, in principle, the same as a law that would force her to have an abortion. If today the state can refuse to allow a woman to terminate a pregnancy, it can refuse tomorrow to allow her to bear a child. She must have the right to do what she chooses with her own body, regardless of whether or not her actions toward herself are good or bad. Such a choice should be no concern of her neighbor, her church or the state. This was what Thomas Jefferson meant when he used the concept of “right to life” in the Declaration of Independence.

When you wipe away the hysteria, the panic, and the rhetoric, it’s really very simple. All that remains is the question: “Does a woman have the right to her own life and body?”

If your answer is “Yes,” you will advocate total repeal of all abortion laws; if your answer is “No,” then do not at some future time, when the consequences of that answer become apparent, shout, “No, I did not mean it to come to this. No one told me.”

You are being told now. The choice is yours.

Robert Cassella

Robert Cassella is editor and publisher of a monthly newsletter called Independent Libertarian Commentary. He is also the New York Free Libertarian Party’s state committee-person for the Libertarian Abortion Action Group.