...and that comes from a democrat who thinks abortion should be legal (although more on the grounds of public policy than as a "right" enshrined in the "penumbra" of the Constitution). But jeez, this article is creepy.

Why does Hischman assume that the value of a woman's life is based on the woman's ability to do whatever she wants? It's one thing to say that freedom gives value to life, in the sense of the state not restricting what you can do with your life. It's another thing entirely to say that the state must allow everyone complete freedom to do whatever they want AND complete freedom to avoid the natural consequence of doing what they want. By Hirschman's logic, infanticide should also be legal if it would expand "the value of women's lives."

Of course, Hirschman wouldn't go so far, and would distinguish the fetus from the infant by saying that the fetus is not a human being. But of course, that's the crux of the abortion argument--always has and always will be. The 20% who can never accept abortion think the fetus is human. The 60% who allow for abortion in exceptional circumstances and the safe/legal/rare crowd think the answer's not so clear. And, of course, the abortion-on-demand, no explanations, no apologies, no exceptions crowd (of which Hirschman is obviously a part) thinks the fetus is just a clump of cells. Hirschman and Company are entitled to their opinion but if they want to argue abortion they need to at least acknowledge there's a debate involved about when life begins.

And as an aside, isn't it at least possible that the "value of women's lives" can be increased through motherhood?

Once again, I'm actually pro choice. I realize that even if abortion is a tough decision, so is keeping a child when a woman is pregnant and desperate. And though pregnancy is a consequence of a woman's decisions (I'm not counting rape, which most people think justifies abortion anyway), I realize people are imperfect and the law cannot expect people to never make mistakes.

But the notion that abortion advances some abstract notion of the "value of women's lives" is just sick.