Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Pelosi's free will defense of legal abortion

Here's Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an interview with Newsweek:
I have some concerns about the church's position respecting a woman's right to choose. ... I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will.
This is an amazing remark because it's so thoughtless.

Pelosi implies that prohibiting abortion is wrong because it prevents women from exercising their will (to have abortions). Of course it does. That's what the law is all about: restricting what people can do, what actions are permissible and impermissible. Following Pelosi's reasoning, we should abolish all laws and embrace anarchy, since a law against rape, for instance, deprives rapists of "that opportunity to exercise their free will."

Pelosi doesn't believe that. She just hasn't thought at all carefully about this important issue.