Slate‘s Human Nature — which I generally much like — contains this item:
Liberals and conservatives switched sides on silicone breast implants. At an FDA hearing, supporters of traditional femininity defended a woman’s right to choose such implants, even with a health risk. Pro-choicers on abortion argued that the implants were too dangerous to legalize universally.
Really? I don’t think that “supporters of traditional femininity” have ever rejected a woman’s right to choose things that might be risky to their health. I don’t think such supporters ever had a consistent views on breast implants as such, but they haven’t, I think, taken a paternalistic view on mere health risks. Pro-life forces oppose abortion because of its effects on the health (and more) of the fetus, not chiefly of the woman.
Some of them have argued (whether rightly or not) that abortions may be dangerous to the woman, perhaps hoping that this may make abortions seem less appealing. But the ultimate reason to make abortions less appealing is to save the life of the fetus. (This isn’t much different from animal rights activists, some of whom may argue that eating meat is bad for you, but who do so chiefly in the service of protecting animals.)
The case for something of a switch by some pro-choice people is a bit stronger: If they really articulate abortion rights as simply a woman’s nearly absolute right to control her own body (as some pro-choice advocates) do, then they should also take the same view as to potentially dangerous surgical procedures.
But the strongest pro-choice arguments — and, I think, the true views of most pro-choice advocates — aren’t just that a woman has a right to control her own body. Rather, they also focus on the magnitude of the burden that an unwanted pregnancy, and the creation of an unwanted child, imposes on the woman. That’s why many pro-choice people aren’t also pro-drug-legalization: Snorting cocaine also relates to what you do with your own body, but unwanted abstinence from cocaine is generally seen as a much lesser burden than unwanted pregnancy. Likewise, that one thinks women have a right to avoid an unwanted pregnancy doesn’t mean that they have a right to seriously risk their own health for merely cosmetic purposes. (The matter is more complex when the issue isn’t just increasing the breast size of healthy but small breasts, but reconstructing breasts after a mastectomy, but I set that aside for now.)
Now as it happens, I think there’s a strong case against the paternalist view, and in favor of letting women risk their health even for cosmetic reasons. But one can easily be a paternalist generally and pro-choice on abortion rights — it’s not switching sides or straddling the fence, I think, to hold such a view.
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