Collective Interests vs Individual Rights: Japanese internment, Conscription, Euthanasia… Abortion.

When do the interests of society supersede the right to bodily autonomy?

Recent legislative initiatives that encroach upon bodily autonomy — namely, a woman’s right to control her own reproduction— have again made visible old, seemingly irreconcilable debates about when life begins, the role of technology in reproduction, moral interpretations of evolutionary biology, and government interventionism.

Darcy Reeder summarizes the salient questions in her recent piece A Fertilized Egg is Not a Human Being. Her answers resolve each question in favor of her right to bodily autonomy, which is the same moral position that we could use to abolish slavery and military conscription.

That is, Ms. Reeder’s view is that individuals have the right to decide for themselves what to do with their bodies, without regulation or interference from the government.

I think she gets it pretty much right in her answers. My own views are libertarian enough to advocate for bodily autonomy for women, and men, too.

The answers to the questions that she poses are no longer worthy of debate.

It’s the questions that I’m questioning.

A better question than the one that Ms. Reeder poses is this:

Under what circumstances in our democracy do…