Roe v. Wade Turns 41 — Find Out What Libertarians Think About Abortion

This week marked the 41st anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case which legalized abortion across the country. Find out where libertarians fall on the issue of abortion in this roundtable hosted by Nick Gillespie featuring prominent libertarian thinkers. Original release date was May 26, 2013 and the original writeup is below the fold.

As a political philosophy, libertarianism stresses concepts such as self-ownership, voluntary consent, and non-agression. In many areas of human activity, the application of such ideas seems relatively straightforward. In others, reaching clarity is far more difficult. On Tuesday, May 21, from 2pm to 3pm in Washington, D.C., Reason hosted a discussion tackling one of the most controversial and debated issues of the day: abortion. Among self-identified libertarians, there's a wide variety of positions, ranging from support for all forms of abortions to the prohibition of the same. The participants include: Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason magazine's managing editor Mollie Hemingway, editor of Ricochet and a contributor to Christianity Today Ronald Bailey, Reason's science correspondent The topics discussed: When does human life—and when do rights—begin? What's the role of science—and religion—in setting abortion policy? Is there a role for the state in prohibiting, regulating, and providing abortion? A fast-paced 30-minute discussion was followed by audience Q&A.

#Abortion #Religion #Science