The core libertarian insight — and it’s a strong one — is that nobody knows best how to run your life other than yourself. The government imposes one-size-fits-all solutions that can’t possibly be right for all of humanity.
Nowhere is that more clear than in the decision to become a parent, which is the most intimate and important decision you can ever make. It’s important to protect the rights of women to choose when they become parents.
You talk about a personal choice to have sex as if it’s all there is to this equation. There are so many life events that factor into it, including, sadly, the fact that having sex isn’t always within a woman’s control.
Consider these situations:
—She is raped by a stranger.
—She is raped by a friend.
—She is raped by a relative.
—She used birth control, but it failed.
—She’s 13 years old and doesn’t have a way to provide for her child.
—She’s 20 years old and isn’t ready for a child yet, but plans to start a family at the age of 26-28.
—She’s 25 years old and planned to start a family, but her husband left her shortly after her pregnancy began.
—She’s 30 years old and planned to start a family, but was in a horrible car accident early in her pregnancy which means she can no longer earn an income.
—She’s 40 years old and has already has 3 kids, has no intention of having a fourth, and doesn’t have the finances to support one.
—She finds out during the course of her pregnancy that her fetus has a rare genetic disorder and isn’t going to live past the age of 5.
—She finds out during the course of her pregnancy that *she* has a rare genetic disorder (or cancer), and isn’t going to live to see her own daughter past the age of five.
Those are just a few situations that come to mind. Radical “pro-life” legislation would mandate that each of these women give birth. Pro-choicers recognize that life is more complex and doesn’t always go according to plan, and that no one is ever in a better position to make these difficult choices than those individual women.