Reply #23: choice

[highlonesome]

How much choice can we empower and still call it choice?

As of today every woman has many choices:

the choice to have or not have sex

the choice to use or not use birth control

the choice to carry a baby to term

the choice to abort the fetus

the choice to keep and raise the child

the choice to give the child to a loving family

the choice to leave a child with authorities who will see it cared for

At each step the woman has complete liberty over her own choice and her own body -- as it should be.

But now we move from the idea of choice for women and into the idea of choice for children. Choice for children negates choice for adult women.

When we move into the realm of allowing an abortion procedure without any form of parental notification, we're moving away in effect from the idea of choice. Since as a minor she needs the state to act on her behalf to provide the means for the abortion, that means that literally every adult citizen of the United States is no longer offered a choice whether to support her abortion or not, but is mandated to support abortion regardless of their belief on the matter.

There is only so much we can do to manage a problem until we reach the point that in trying to literally solve the problem we end up with something worse.