I have a couple responses to your previous post. First, I don't quite see the connection between separation and individuality. Newborns are in almost every way just as dependent on the sustenance of another human being as a fetus that is only minutes from delivery. What should keep us from the conclusion that the unborn fetus is simply in a stage of individuality? Doesn't use of the term "individual" become somewhat subjective?
In the context of the original topic, it seems that the mother is not an individual that happens to be carrying a sort of appendage, but is instead entrusted with the care of another physically undeveloped individual. In this example I believe it is wise to restrict the right of liberty for one individual (the mother) in deference to the right for existence in the other individual (the fetus).
In addition, I think we have to qualify what is and is not considered a meaningfully expressed wish. Not to be over the top in my illustration of abortion, but when a baby cringes or thrashes about in the womb as a result of the procedure being performed, it would seem wise to assign the reactions of fear and pain as being representative of meaningfully expressed wishes; the wish of course being the absence of whatever stimuli is causing the reaction in question.
In closing, I'm beginning to think that most things political really do come down to abortion. Try as I may, I can't think of another example that supersedes the liberty principle. Perhaps I'm just not trying hard enough..?? Thanks again for your previous response. I have enjoyed the dialog. :-)
Obviously you are quite correct here. As a Libertarian, I recognize the moral responsibility this places on those who are in the immediate vicinity for its care. But what I cannot support is a legal responsibility. To do so would deny self ownership, which is a fundamental aspect of individual rights. Slavery of any kind, for any reason, will never be acceptable to a true Libertarian. The same goes for an unwanted fetus.
Should the Democrats realize the advantage to changing their position on abortion, we are going to be in for government controls way beyond anything considered or discussed at this time. Even if they don't make the change, their ability to manipulate Republican into accepting their controls is beyond dispute.
Take the traditional family issue of putting fathers back into the home that Republicans fought so long and so hard for. Once it was popularized, the Democrats jumped on board calling for immediate action on those parts of it that "we all can agree with." The end results was not an increase of fathers in the home. What we got was an astronomical increase in the amount of money obligated, basing it on a guessimation of earning potential, rather than actual earnings. Collection methods were empowered way beyond anything imagined just a couple decades ago. The result has impoverished many fathers, and families. And did not increase the presence of fathers in the home in the slightest. Republicans really got conned on that one.
One more example, Republicans have been at the forfront in calling for law and order. Once their call became popularized, the Democrats came on board, with the call for disarming families where one of the parents pled or was found guilty of any domestic violence misdemeanor, often for nothing more than slapping a spouse. Republicans were manipulated into supporting a law that disarmed families for nothing more than a misdemeanor. So much for the Second Amendment.
Now imagine what the Democrats could do with abortion. Special police investigators using fad or phony science, invading homes, to examine both mother and remains, so as to determine the if a spontaneous miscarriage, of a three week pregnancy, was criminal or not. Setting a three day limit on which every expecting mother must register a pregnancy once the time has past that she should have reasoned that she might be pregnant. Incarcerating in special detention homes any expecting mother who is found or has been found wanting in properly registering in timely manner, or who has displayed a resistance either verbally or physically, to follow the accepted establishments standards of good health during such pregnancy.
Such intrusions on individual rights will never be acceptable to Libertarians. Self ownership (free will) is what Libertarianism is all about.