Scott Tibbs
Pro-choice about what?
By Scott Tibbs, December 2, 2022
I am pro-choice. I believe consenting adults should have the right to develop their property as they see fit without unnecessary interference from the city or county planning departments. Private property rights are essential to our liberty and prosperity, and I trust landowners to know what is best for their own property more than I trust government bureaucrats or elected officials to make decisions about someone else's property.
But that is not normally what you think about when you hear "pro-choice," is it? That term almost exclusively refers to the right to terminate a pregnancy, not about numerous other activities that are regulated or prohibited by laws or government regulations. So when I am described as "anti-choice," what exactly does that mean? Am I against all choice? Or am I only against certain choices?
Even on the abortion issue itself, many (though not all) abortion rights supporters (ARS) are not truly "pro-choice." They want to force taxpayers to subsidize abortion clinics and sometimes abortion itself. They want to force private businesses to supply birth control to their employees. They want to heavily regulate or even ban crisis pregnancy centers.
Other than the very small number of people who are true anarchists, everyone is "anti-choice" about something. But I would argue that I am far more "pro-choice" on a wider variety of issues than ARS - on land use policy, on religious liberty, and on allowing people to buy cold medicine over-the-counter without needing to "show our papers" to the pharmacist to be tracked in a government database. I am also "pro-choice" on smoking in public places, smoking in your own private vehicle, putting a larger yard sign in your lawn, and whether consenting adults can choose to wear a seat belt or not.
I do not expect to change the language of the abortion debate, especially as the mainstream media describes anti-abortion voters or elected officials. I do hope, however, that people can start thinking more broadly about what "choice" actually means, and who really are in favor of allowing consenting adults to "choose" how to live our lives without excessive government interference.
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