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John Altmann

4/15/15

Articulating Abortion as a Conservative Position

Three things of the utmost pertinence need to be expressed at the outset of this essay. 1.)

The ideas here expressed are derived primarily from one source of conservative philosophical

literature and thus there most certainly !ill be contentions on !hether the arguments made here

are truly conservative at all. ".) The brand of #onservatism that $ find myself gro!ing into is

!holly of the secular variety. That is to say it is one completely void of any theocratic

institutions and recogni%es legitimacy solely !ithin the confines of my associations !ith my

fello! man that give us society and the &tate !hose function is purely postulated in negative

terms by acting as a preventative agent to!ards anything that might prove corrosive to these

associations. '.) (astly as a !hite male it cannot be ignored that my pulpit lacs credibility as $

!rite this from a vantage point of privilege. $ am merely asserting the po!ers and protections $

believe a !oman should be afforded as it relates to issues concerning her very biology. *o!ever

only the female gender spanning all races classes etc. should be endo!ed !ith the right to lead

the movement !hose aim it is to sei%e these po!ers and protections. The best $ can hope for is

that this essay be promoted and subse+uently utili%ed as ammunition for this very movement.

To begin $ !ould lie to cite a +uote from #onservative political philosopher ,ichael

-aeshott from his essay -n eing #onservative

To be conservative then is to prefer the familiar to the unno!n to prefer the

tried to the untried fact to mystery the actual to the possible the limited to the

unbounded the near to the distant the sufficient to the superabundant the



convenient to the perfect present laughter to utopian bliss. 0amiliar relationships

and loyalties !ill be preferred to the allure of more profitable attachments to

ac+uire and to enlarge !ill be less important than to eep to cultivate and to

en2oy the grief of loss !ill be more acute than the excitement of novelty or

promise. $t is to be e+ual to one3s o!n fortune to live at the level of one3s o!n

means to be content !ith the !ant of greater perfection !hich belongs alie to

oneself and one3s circumstances. ith some people this is itself a choice in others

it is a disposition !hich appears fre+uently or less fre+uently in their preferences

and aversions and is onto itself chosen or specifically cultivated.

1

-aeshott treats conservatism not as a doctrine but as a disposition. hen posited in the former

it has been a great source of patriarchal oppression and legislated misogyny against not 2ust the

biology of the oman but against her very agency. hen posited in the latter in my vie! it can

be a source of great liberation and empo!erment. hen !e loo at the issue of abortion through

an -aean lens the +uestion should be ased !ho or !hat is in possession of the right to compel

the oman to the unno!n and remove her from the territory of the familiar that is her childless

existence of unfettered autonomy. The ans!er to that +uestion is nothing possesses that right for

if the epublican is to say the &tate it is a betrayal of #onservatism for such coercive legislation

is a betrayal to the very ideal of democracy. $f they are to say 6od that is in itself a transgression

upon #onstitutional protections afforded to all including oman as a !hole.

$t should be the aim of the conservative then to conserve the liberty of the oman !hatever

form it taes. 0or the childless !oman motherhood is a concept foreign to her entirely by choice

1 Michael Oakeshott, On Being Conservative. Pg 1 of 13.

(http://faculty.rcc.eu/sellick/On!"#Being!"#Conservative.pf$



78ven !omen !ho may be incapable of having children from a health standpoint al!ays have

the option to adopt or contract a surrogate. The existence of these avenues ensures the oman is

not occluded from motherhood !hich $ thin maes my preceding assertion stand firm) and it is

a lifestyle that she has developed an intimate familiarity. The conservative more than anyone

should extend their sympathies to the !oman thrust into the unno!n especially in cases !hen

she !as taen there violently through instances such as rape. The truly conservative individual

recogni%es that no one including oman should be deprived of the familiar that they have

erected and thus in that recognition strives to aid her in protecting it.

9o! there !ill be those that !ill not appeal to a purely theocratic form of argument and

instead loo to a social contract approach to frame the rights of the fetus. 0or instance they

might appeal to the urean conception of the social contract. 8dmund ure asserts

&ociety is indeed a contract. &ubordinate contracts for ob2ects of mere occasional

interest may be dissolved at pleasure::but the state ought not to be considered as

nothing better than a partnership agreement . . . to be taen up for a little

temporary interest and to be dissolved by the fancy of the parties. $t is to be

looed on !ith other reverence because it is not a partnership in things

subservient only to the gross animal existence of a temporary and perishable

nature. $t is a partnership in all science a partnership in all art a partnership in

every virtue and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be

obtained in many generations it becomes a partnership not only bet!een those

!ho are living but bet!een those !ho are living those !ho are dead and those

!ho are to be born. 8ach contract of each particular state is but a clause in the

great primeval contract of eternal society lining the lo!er !ith the higher



because the change itself pertains !holly to her very biology. $f she is not deemed the most

+ualified arbiter of such a decision !hat freedom can !e really say that oman possesses> $

!ill grant -aeshott that an act such as abortion cannot be implemented as intimation and is an

act more appropriately +ualified as an imposition but $ still assert that the end result is gro!th.

hen !e consider the motivations for !hy a !oman desires an abortion !hether it is because

she has insufficient means for providing for a child considers the prospect of motherhood on the

!hole an infringement about her liberty and the fruits it has reaped anticipates reaping or as a

means of healing from a severe psychological trauma such as rape !e begin to understand the

prospect of having the child as a loss in itself for the oman. Therefore the result of abortion is

nothing but gro!th for the innovator in +uestion.

hen the +uestion poses itself regarding the dise+uilibrium that is being redressed $ find the

ans!er to be of both a microcosmic and macrocosmic nature. -n a microcosmic scale it is the

case of the oman re:stabili%ing her sense of personal liberty. $f the !oman is of insufficient

resources finds that she has suffered a great personal trauma in the form of rape in !hich case

the child could potentially be more a symbol of violation and violence than love or she 2ust

simply finds her lifestyle preferable the oman or innovator if you !ill should have every right

to exercise this mode of conservation. &ir obert ?eele said it best ;#onservatism means

changing !hat you must to conserve !hat you can.<4 $f changing the course of fate for the

unborn means the conservation of oman3s po!er liberty and human dignity then $ cannot in

good conscience find this course unreasonable or ill:conservative.

ale Courses. 0Moral ounations of Politics2 ale %niversity

(https://+++.youtue.co)/+atch4v5hk67a+8f9$.



him to reply hy not> Their dreams are no different from those of anyone else

and if it is boring to have to listen to dreams of others being recounted it is

insufferable to be forced to re:enact them. e tolerate monomaniacs it is our

habit to do so but !hy should !e be ruled by them> $s it not 7the man of

conservative disposition ass) an intelligible tas for a government to protect its

sub2ects against the nuisance of those !ho spend their energy and their !ealth in

the service of some pet indignation endeavoring to impose it upon everybody not

by suppressing their activities in favor of others of a similar ind but by setting a

limit to the amount of noise anyone may emit>

$ndeed !hy should !e believe that governments are endo!ed !ith a !isdom

superior to our o!n> $n fact the very act of doing so !ould be a betrayal of

#onservatism not an acceptance of it. The #onservative disposition is to trust

more in a no!ledge that is the result of several generations of manind and in

the cluster of communities as a !hole rather than trusting in the ind of

no!ledge and the subse+uent policies that arise from it that is consolidated by

the &tate. ,ost significantly though the #onservative believes that the individual

is sensible enough to pursue their o!n interests so long as it does not interfere

!ith the interests of others. 9o! one might be inclined to say ;ut !hat about

the interests of the fetus>< To !hich $ reply that it has none. To say that a fetus

has interests is also to say that they have the cognitive sophistication to recogni%e

them and the agency to actuali%e them. &uch an assertion is positively

Michael Oakeshott. On Being Conservative Pg ; of 13. (http://faculty.rcc.eu/sellick/On!"#Being!"#Conservative.pf$



nonsensical. &ince the fetus can be said to have no interests the government has

no reason to overextend its po!er and thus should eep itself limited to its

function of the protection of peoples3 liberties and that includes the liberty of all

!omen. 8ither that or !e legislatively oppress all sexual creatures !ith e+ual

measure. *o!ever this course !ould inevitably lead to a great social upheaval

!hich is antithetical to the conservative vision. Bltimately government expends

far less resources and incurs far less of a cost upon itself letting !omen be

endo!ed fully !ith liberty and that of course means extending it to their bodies of

!hich they should already be !holly autonomous.

9o! as $ said earlier in the essay $ !ould address the main problem of using a

social contract structure altogether as $ cited ure doing earlier as a means of

protection for the unborn. The problem !ith offering a fetus the protections of

society against the very !oman !ho made it possible 7@es !hile $ fully

acno!ledge a man is needed to fully create a child it is the !oman !ho has to

carry it to term and bear the entire brunt of it. The man is not stunted sexually or

in activity and indeed even the responsible man is only stunted to a degree both

financially and in terms of his autonomy !hile the !oman suffers the same

regressions and stagnations and more) is t!o:fold. -n the one side it circles bac

to the assertions made in the preceding paragraph. That is that the fetus lacs

both agency and sophisticated cognition. ecause of this unlie the female agent

bearing the fetus the fetus cannot contribute to the customs traditions and

overall social order and culture that mae a society !hat it is. The oman on the

other hand is a steadfast contributor and participant not 2ust to these concepts but



to the social contract as a !hole. &he actively participates in the maret she forms

relationships !ith her fello! man through free association and she engages the

democratic institutions and abides by la!s. ?reference must be given to her and

the conservative must allo! her to be the arbiter of such a choice among others.

y permitting any other outcome !ould not only have her prior contributions

being devalued as a result the oman may resolve herself not to be as active a

participant or a contributor to culture in the future either due to a dearth of

resources or the onset of revolt against the very social order that treats her lesser

than something !hose !ill exerted upon society is unno!n.

This actually leads to my second line of argumentation. 9o one not even

the mother of the impending child no!s truly the mar that the child !ill leave

upon civil society once they gro! into their agency and their capabilities have

undergone refinement. -n the one hand the child could gro! up to become a

great composer and pianist ushering in a renaissance for classical music.

#onversely they may end up becoming a mass murderer or an arsonist depriving

life from others at !ill and maing destruction reign upon the citi%enry in a

multitude of forms. These restrictive political and 2udicial measures that mae it

cumbersome for a !oman to experience full bodily autonomy are the &tate3s !ay

of resigning to this fate for oman. The fetus !hose life remains shrouded in

ambiguity !hile there are !omen actively participating in and bettering society

and thus maing their life no!n receives greater protection and rights than

oman herself. $f !e are to afford !omen anything at all it should be the po!er

to decide !ho !ill reap the benefits not 2ust of the overall culture and social



arrangements of a society but her particular contributions to it . $f !e are to

blame a mother !hen a child goes do!n a horrid path !e should endo! her !ith

the chance to avert such a sentence in the name of e+uity.

$n conclusion in an effort to segregate true #onservatism from

epublicanism conservatives must support 0eminism and its aims. omen

maintain the social order 2ust as much if not more than men do !hen !e loo at

the totality of history up to the present. $ have taled about ho! they give life

!hen it is life that is the spring of all culture customs la!s and society in itself

and therefore oman it can be said is the spring from !hich the conservative

conception of society and indeed society period arises. $t is time to dismantle

misogynistic bureaucracies and eep government outside the doors of !omen3s

lives so that they may act as an enforcer of rights and not an intruder of them.

(astly !e must emphasi%e the term civil in civil association. $f a !oman pursues

a !ay of life you disagree !ith that does not then grant you the right to be

coercive in any form. To do so mocs her liberty and !hen the liberty of one is

moced the !hole concept becomes undermined. #onservatives conserve the

rights and dignity of !omen and let them tae control of their lives and their

bodiesC



References

1. ,ichael -aeshott On Being Conservative. http//faculty.rcc.edu/sellic/-n

D"EeingD"E#onservative.pdf ". 8ric 6ans Ending The Enlightenment . Bniversity of #alifornia (os Angeles

http//!!!.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/vie!s/v!"F.htm

http://faculty.rcc.edu/sellick/On%20Being%20Conservative.pdf




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