I recently listened to a fireplace chat by Dennis Prager where he said that he felt the Left fails to acknowledge the moral issues in their abortion stance.
A friend recently gave me a booklet entitled Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct. This is a booklet written by Ben Bayer in an attempt to summarize proudly what he believes to be Rand’s views on the issue. She did not write it but it contains quotes from her writings and lectures.
I read the booklet because I like to be fully apprised.
I grew up in the church and with a mom who was heavily involved the Right to Life movement so this certainly influenced my formative years. I became a conservative thinker early on in my adult years, before voting in my first election.
When I was in my early twenties, out of law school and beginning my career, I was introduced to Ayn Rand. I have a Philosophy Minor but I do not recall reading any of her works in school.
I was enamored with her Fountainhead but more so with Atlas Shrugged, which I recently reread, and love the protagonist Dagny Taggart. Such an example of a strong and independent woman, especially given the time period in which the book was written.
I also read and found very chilling the novel We the Living. I was surprised to find this book referenced as a support in the booklet about Ayn Rand’s purported views on abortion because it is not directly reference nor involve the issue of abortion.
I had never read anything concerning Ayn Rand’s views on the abortion issue but it appears she did make some public remarks and also some writings concerning the issue.
As I read these, her view seemed to be that to place restrictions on abortion would be to hamper a woman’s self actualization. She expresses concern over how a pregnancy might hamper a woman’s physical appearance and tie her down financially, keep her from her potential.
As a mom of five perfect healthy children I know the drain, emotionally, financially, physically, that children can bring about…forget about babies, wait until they become teenagers as mine are, full of their own ideas about their self actualization which will most likely conflict in one way or another with yours! The responsibility of being a parent is so significant that you cannot even grasp it fully ahead of time. A good parent experiences So much pressure to provide, protect, be…it is insurmountable. You never feel enough.
So I cannot bring myself to force women who don’t feel up to the task to go through with it…of course, no one was holding a gun to their heads when baby was created…I have a good friend who likes to state the obvious, “sex makes babies”.
Anyway. Rand apparently said in part: “…up to that [birth] moment, the child is not an independent, living organism. It’s part of the body of the mother. But at birth, a child is an individual, and has the rights inherent in the nature of a human individual.” Ayn Rand, Q&A after “The Wreckage of the Consensus” as quoted in Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct at p. 33.
The editor (Ben Bayer) goes on to elucidate: “In Ayn Rand’s scientific approach to ethics…the essential requirement of human life is the use of reason to solve the problem of survival.”
Bayer also refers to pregnancy as “a woman who is sentenced by the state to nine months of pregnancy l against her will” (Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct at p. 7.) It should be noted Bayer is speaking of pregnancy in general, not cases of rape.
The only attention given to the moral issue of a fetus/embryo presenting the potentiality of human life is in cold statements such as: “Even if a fetus has a heartbeat or can experience pain, this would not prove it has a right to life. ..Animals also have heartbeats, and so do fully brain-dead human beings.” And “Cancerous tenors and human corpses also have human DNA, and nobody thinks they have rights.” (Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct at p. 25.)
Apparently Rand is said to have criticized our great President Reagan on the topic as follows: “That’s what a creature like Reagan [wants] …he comes out…for…his right to dictate to young people what they’re going to do with their life; are they going to have a chance at a career or are they going to be needing animals? I cannot communicated how despicable that is.” (Leonard Peikoff, Q&A session after “The Philosophy of Objectivism,” Lecture 5, as quoted in Why the Right to Abortion is Sacrosanct at p. 39.) The logic of this statement is absurd. First, President Reagan never promoted mandating pregnancy and birth, as her comment would suggest. Second, she ignores the moral issue that a fetus/embryo is at least potential human life so we cannot look to just the “young person’s” life. Third, the statement completely belies the fact that in most situations the pregnancy has occurred as a result of free will, and in the age of womens’ rights and readily available contraception, poor planning and lack of responsibility. Rand should know better than to refer to a resulting pregnancy as having been forced upon these “young people.”
My view is to leave it up to each person’s conscience. To me it should not be a political issue.
But I feel the one point Rand cannot grasp as a non parent (not my friend who lent me the booklet) is that it is not like the pre-born baby is un-sentient and then all of a sudden they are born and voila they are sentient and self determining. Nooooo….I have teenagers and they are still not capable of rational thought on a very frequent basis. So I do not think it is rational or objective to say that because a baby prior to birth has no capability of rational thought he or she has no rights to consider that might conflict with the mother’s issue appropriate. If this is the argument then it would legitimize infanticide, no, child-acide..,and most definitely teen-a-cide.
Whatever argument one could have for doing away with a tiny cute baby I guarantee you can apply more palatably to a sassy teenager bent on going their own way which may diverge significantly from your set of values and plans. I guess Ayn Rand would say that is all the more reason to consider abortion sacrosanct. But the fact is we cannot escape the inevitable messiness of life and having children, in my opinion, is a richer life. No, it is not always in line with our plans. In fact I guarantee that if you wait to be ready for a baby you will never be…especially if your friend tells you about the teenager that baby could become!
I believe in the saying “man plans & God laughs”…
Notes From Real Life 