Why I'm Pro-Choice

I am pro-choice for philosophical, contractual, and practical reasons.

Philosophical
I'm a big fan of Ron Paul: we're both libertarians and we both respect Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy. He is, of course, pro-life and I see that position as a contradictory to his principles. One of her assertions was, roughly, that one person's need does not translate to an obligation on another. This is used to justify the rebellion of producers against the oppressive collectivist leeches. I see no difference when the leech is now called an embryo - its need for a host does not obligate the host. Now, one may say that the circumstances of pregnancy are different: the sexual act is involved and parents have a responsibility for their children. The first is only relevant if you believe sex should only be performed for procreation - which doesn't jive with Randites (or me) or that birth control is 100% effective. The second point (responsibility) is already defeated by Rand principles, but I'll also address it next.

Contractural
The parent child relationship is essentially a contract: parents have children in order to be more happy. In return, they provide the child with life and the opportunity to also be happy. Happy children are a blessing, so it usually all works out. However, if the parents do not view the child as contributing to their happiness, it's a bad deal: either they made a mistake, they were duped, or the child isn't holding up their end of the deal. If there's a bad contract, there is no obligation on either side to be held to it.

Practical
It is impractical to enforce anti-abortion laws. If a women doesn't want a child, she'll find a way to abort it. Whether it's back-alley abortions, pins in the head of the unborn, beatings to the uterus, or abandonment - women have ways of removing an unwanted fetus. If abortions are legal and tolerated we will only endanger one life (the leech) and not two.

A couple extra points. I don't want women to have abortions. I believe that no woman wants to have an abortion. I believe that one of the best ways to prevent abortions is to give a woman an alternative - I'd like to see some sort of fetus transplant technology emerge, with pro-lifers putting their money towards practical alternatives instead of protests. I further believe that some women have abortions for socio-economic reasons that can be avoided or ameliorated, and that much of the anti-abortion/pro-life motivation is targeted on these abortions. I believe that those socio-economic pressures are leaving certain demographics with a low birth rate through abortion and traditional birth control, and that this represents a very insidious form of demographic-ocide which may be fuelling the radical pro-life right. OK, I'm ranting.