Thursday, October 13, 2011

Your body, your right to choose, but only when I so choose

A recent article on Reason's Web site concerning inconsistent restrictions on women's freedom to sell their eggs reminds me of something that has long bothered me about the politically correct crowd. They make a stink about being pro-choice on abortion, but on just about every other issue — including whether women should make choices over their own bodies with regard to everything from pornography to home HIV test kids — theycan take an attitude that is paternalistic and anti-choice.

Do women have the right to make choices over their own bodies, and particularly their own reproductive systems, yes or no? If you answer, "It depends," explain what it depends on, and why. If you answer that minorities and poor people need special paternalism protection, especially if you are one of the middle- to upper-class white people who seem to dominate the P.C. crowd, you have the burden of explaining why they actually do need protection and why you don't just consider minorities and poor people too stupid to run their own lives without your guidance.

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