Photo via Wikimedia, courtesy of flickr, https://vaping360.com/
“My body, my choice” is a popular slogan of the pro-abortion movement in the United States, and it is echoed by politicians who do not believe in its message.
Back in November, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke about her support for abortion, saying “protecting the right of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body is fundamentally what we do and what we stand for as a Democratic Party.”
It’s a stance echoed by all nine U.S. representatives from Massachusetts and the other U.S. senator (and his major challenger), none of whom favor adding any restrictions to current federal abortion law.
However, it’s not what these politicians believe. They don’t think women should be able to control their bodies — they just support killing babies via abortion.
When it comes to public health, they are quick to regulate away what women can do with their bodies. Here are five examples of why their bodily autonomy argument is disingenuous.
1. Alcohol/Tobacco Age
When it comes to aborting a child, an 18-year-old woman is allowed to make that decision on her own. When it comes to buying a pack of cigarettes or drinking a glass of wine at a restaurant, however, not so fast …
In 1984, the federal government raised the legal age to consume alcohol from 18 to 21. The legislation received support from 81 senators, including Massachusetts liberal Ted Kennedy. And last December, Congress passed a $1.4 trillion spending bill with bipartisan support. Everyone representing Massachusetts in Congress except Elizabeth Warren (who was away campaigning for president) voted forit. Tucked away in that bill was a provision raising the age to buy tobacco in the United States from 18 to 21 — a law which already existed in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, who supports legal abortion, also enacted a temporary e-cigarette ban last fall.
2. Drug Legalization
Outside of hardcore libertarian and anarchist circles, it would be hard to find anyone in the United States advocating for the legalization of heroin.
Although some want marijuana legalized, mainstream politicians talk about the use of illegal opioids as an epidemic and acknowledge there is a serious problem concerning hard drugs.
Instead of letting package stores sell heroin and fentanyl, politicians understand such drugs are harmful to society and try to enact policies to combat people using them.
Even Senator Elizabeth Warren, a hardcore progressive, had a plan on her 2020 presidential campaign website for how she would fight the opioid epidemic if elected — and that plan has nothing to do with legalizing drugs.
In other words: Warren and other abortion supporters do not see a right for a woman to make choices about her own body when it comes to hard drugs.
3. Prostitution
Prostitutes make money by using their body. Except for portions of Nevada, it is illegal in the United States.
While U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley, one of the furthest left-wing politicians in the United States, supports decriminalizing it, and even she doesn’t think it should be fully legal.
Plus, the pro-choice mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, decided earlier in his tenure that there should be harsher penalties for those who solicit prostitutes. Walsh called Pressley’s proposal “dangerous,” according to The Boston Herald.
While Walsh’s stance would not increase penalties for prostitutes, it would make it harder for them to ply their trade — and thus make decisions about their own body.
4. Euthanasia
Physician-assisted suicide is outlawed in 41 of the 50 states — including states like New Hampshire, Alaska and New Mexico where there are no limits on when a woman can abort a baby. The proposal was even too radical for Massachusetts, where 51 percent of constituents voted down a so-called “Death with Dignity” proposition in 2012. This came despite 74 percent of Massachusetts adults supporting legalized abortion in “all or most cases”, according to a 2014 Pew Research poll.
Since then, some members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate have attempted to pass physician-assisted suicide bills, but even the Democrats are divided and Governor Charlie Baker doesn’t support it, so these attempts have been unsuccessful, as The Washington Times points out.
In other words, many abortion supporters do not see a right to do in one’s own body.
5. Organ Sales
In the United States, organ donations are legal for those who opt into it, but people are not allowed to sell their organs, such as a spare kidney.
Currently, the practice is only allowed in Iran, as The Guardian points out. No prominent American politicians are fighting for its legalization. even though it falls neatly into the bodily autonomy argument and provides people with income.
Photo via Wikimedia, courtesy of flickr, https://vaping360.com/ 
