The choice is hers

One of the many lies that pro-abortionists shamelessly perpetuate is that pro-life politicians are trying to take choice away from women. Mark Hemingway today catches Matt Yglesias peddling this prevarication.

Putting aside the obvious fallacies in Yglesias' reasoning -- women choose whether or not to have sex (unless raped), they can choose to put a child up for adoption -- there inheres in this claim a more subtle and foundational deceit. Abortion prohibitions would not eradicate choice about abortion any more than other homicide prohibitions take away choice about other forms of homicide. That homicide is a crime does not prevent many people from choosing to kill other human beings.

Of course, a criminal prohibition against abortion would place the compulsion of the state on the side of innocent human life. And that compulsion would, no doubt, directly inform the choice of would-be aborters. But what's wrong with that? Yglesias and other libs are simply wrong about their claim that conservatives devalue human agency. Indeed, one of the most important reasons to restrict abortion is to encourage women to maintain their character and to avoid an action that would harm their integrity.

Furthermore, many abortion restrictions fall far short of compulsion by threat of criminal punishment. Informed consent requirements, cooling off periods, paternal consent demands, and similar regulations would go a long way toward encouraging women to save the lives of their unborn children.

Liberals, who claim to care about the autonomy of pregnant women, would do well to consider their moral and physical well-being. Pro-life conservatives demonstrate true concern for the health and integrity of women's choices.