The following letter was sent to Harry Browne, 1996 Libertarian Party candidate for US President.March 12, 1996
Thank you for sending me your book "Why Government Doesn't Work," which I read with a great deal of pleasure and enthusiasm. It is very rich in ideas, practical strategies, and provocative observations.
However, one section surprised me: your discussion of abortion. You write: "Until science can demonstrate otherwise, I must assume that the life begins at conception. Thus I believe abortion is wrong." You go on to say that you don't think the government should launch a war against abortion, or forbid abortion legally because the war cannot be won, just as the government cannot win a war against drugs. The implication is that if this were a war the government could win, it would be desirable.
I don't think the question is whether or not "life begins at conception." Let us agree that it does. I think the question is: Is a fetus a human being? To that question, I believe we must answer no. Otherwise, we are confusing a potentiality with actuality.
The most you can say about a fetus is that it is a potential human being. What you have in the moment of conception, or for some months thereafter, is not a human being, not a person--and so destroying it is not murder.
If we forbid a woman who desires it the right to have an abortion, we are sacrificing the actual--the adult woman--for the sake of the potential--the fetus. Do you think that is right? I don't.
I would be the first to agree that too many people are utterly irresponsible in the conduct of their sex lives and treat abortion as just another form of birth control, when they are too lazy to take precautions in advance. I do not think abortion should ever be treated casually. But still, I do view it as a right, and for the above reasons.
With all good wishes,
Nathaniel Branden, Ph.D.