The basic argument against abortion was succinctly expressed just six weeks ago by Florida Sen. Rick Scott in the pages of The Wall Street Journal when he boldly pronounced that "the Republican position on abortion is based on a fundamental belief that life begins at conception." Leaving aside exactly what conception means—is it the same as fertilization, for instance?—such a statement implies that abortion, with the possible exception of those performed to save the life of the pregnant woman, is murder. It's not just conservatives like Scott who feel this way, of course. Some libertarians, including some of my colleagues here at Reason, share that view and thus call abortion nothing less than "child murder."
The equation of abortion with murder may be ahistorical (more on that in a moment), but now that Roe has been overturned, such a belief has profound implications for the people living in the 26 states that are likely to ban most, if not all, abortions. If life does indeed begin at conception, then the state has an affirmative duty to protect all zygotes (fertilized eggs), blastocysts (week-old zygotes), and embryos (zygotes implanted on the uterine wall). From a libertarian perspective, the implications of such a shift are staggering. This is a recipe not for limited government but for one that must, in the name of protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, surveil and track all acts of potential procreation.
