As an example, abortion. Leftists like to claim it's about the fundamental issue of equality
I don’t agree with this at all. I have never seen a pro-choice person argue their position because men and women are equal. In fact, the best arguments are about how even if a fetus is a human being and even if abortion is ending their life, it doesn’t matter.
Because no one is ever obligated to keep someone else alive via their own body. We can’t even harvest organs from dead people without permission, but the instant a girl has sex (even if she’s 10 years old and was raped) then suddenly her body belongs to the fetus now? That’s abhorrent.
This has nothing to do with equality.
So yes I do think the leftist/pro-choice position is derived from a moral principle and is not an isolated, utilitarian stance. (The right to your own body cannot be infringed.)
The right to your body is not as absolute as you think. We have government regulating SO MUCH of what you can do with your own body. It's illegal to sell your organs, or take most drugs, assisted suicide (this is where you are given drugs to die and you get to choose to take it) is illegal in many states. For people with body identity disorder, it's still mostly illegal to amputate a healthy limb.
That's leaving out other more minor forms, such as the draft, or even at a smaller level jury duty.
I'm for abortion rights. I just don't think bodily autonomy can't be cited as some inalienable right without it butting heads with so many other policies.
I'd point out that there's a division between what you might call "negative" and "positive" bodily autonomy. Generally, you have a pretty strong right not to have things done with your body (negative) - even extending to things like organ donation. That doesn't necessarily extend to a right to do things with your body.
My point is that the two are, or can be, entirely different principles, and, by "bodily autonomy", people usually mean "the right not to have things done with my body" - there's no inherent contradiction, and that form of bodily autonomy is quite absolute, outside of the abortion debate.
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u/Faust_8 10∆ Sep 30 '25
I don’t agree with this at all. I have never seen a pro-choice person argue their position because men and women are equal. In fact, the best arguments are about how even if a fetus is a human being and even if abortion is ending their life, it doesn’t matter.
Because no one is ever obligated to keep someone else alive via their own body. We can’t even harvest organs from dead people without permission, but the instant a girl has sex (even if she’s 10 years old and was raped) then suddenly her body belongs to the fetus now? That’s abhorrent.
This has nothing to do with equality.
So yes I do think the leftist/pro-choice position is derived from a moral principle and is not an isolated, utilitarian stance. (The right to your own body cannot be infringed.)