OK. But it would have been clearer if you had just said what you said
below and also posted the stuff about Bush. He doesn't sound much for
reproductive rights. However, people can be for reproductive rights but
overall not progressive at all. I was a bit hasty about libertarians
too. Although I expect that most are for reproductive rights because
they do not like the government prohibiting choices period and so with
choices of what one must do with ones body, namely suffer forced labor
if pregnancy is not allowed. However, it is quite imaginable that a
libertarian could hold the conservative position that the fetus at all
stages is a person and hence that the issue is killing an innocent
person. You can't argue a right to control your body
implies a right to kill an innocent person unless they were somehow a
threat that could not be avoided in any other way. However, the
libetarian might consider that the fetus has no rights' claims on the
woman's body, the sort of argument that Judith Thomson uses. Anyway I
was needlessly provocative.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Ken Hanly wrote:
>
> >I have been accused by Carrol of posting just to make points. I do.
> >Your post on the other hand seems pointless. The Gallup results
> >don't mention Bush, neo-conservatives, or libertarians. I know
> >libertarians support reproductive rights and nothing in the Gallup
> >poll is relevant to showing the incorrectness of the other two
> >points.
>
> The point is there is absolutely no consensus across the U.S.
> political spectrum on reproductive rights. In fact, the
> "right-to-life" position has been gaining, not losing, ground, in
> recent years. Bush and the neo-conservatives know this, even if
> others don't.
>
> <http://www.georgewbush.com/issues/domestic/ab-social/points.asp>:
>
> Abortion/Social Issues
>
> * Pro life with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother
>
> * Set the goal that all children should be welcomed in life and
> protected by law
>
> * Supports parental notification, banning use of taxpayer funds for
> abortion, and banning partial birth abortion
>
> * Supports efforts to increase adoptions
>
> * Opposes doctor assisted suicide, believes the role of a doctor is
> to relieve pain and suffering, not to end life
>
> * Opposes same sex marriage
>
> * Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit
