In my thread on abortion, I’ve challenged anyone to attack a few points, citing sources and using quotes. To this day, nobody has. I feel convinced my position is the only unique and consistent libertarian position.
• A fetus doesn’t meet the requirements for property rights. Therefore abortion is strictly legitimate.
To attack this point, the opposition must note that rights are property rights in scarce resources, requiring action which implies a rational individual. A fetus isn’t an individual, it can’t be proved to be rational, it can’t communicate about abstract concepts with us, it can’t act in the economic sense—purposeful behavior towards scarce resources—nor does it need to (it’s critical to note that a fetus doesn’t need to act; the concept of rights is about justice concerning the needs of individuals in an environment of scarce resources upon which they can act in competition). To top it all, nothing about the entire concept of property is relevant to a fetus—whether from the fetus’ perspective outward, or another’s perspective toward the fetus. A fetus doesn’t need property, nor can it to acquire any through trade or homestead. To talk about the property rights of a fetus is to ignore the very foundations of the concepts of property, rights, and property rights (and action, scarcity, and the role of ethics, which deals with the just allocation of resources in an environment of scarcity and competition).
• In abortion, nobody (if not the mother) has a property right such that they can legitimately retaliate.
Self-evident, needs no commentary. If the fetus isn’t considered an individual, there is no concern for whom it belongs to; the fetus is a part of the mother. If the fetus can be considered property, certainly it is nobody’s if not the mother’s, so if she murders it, nobody has any legal recourse.
• OK, enough about fetuses, what about the case of babies? Once a baby (individual, ex-fetus) acts it becomes a self-owner—this is as opposed to a fetus, which is neither a self nor capable of owning or even fathoming no less communicating about the concept of ownership. As a self-owner, nobody has a property right in it, so nobody can legitimately retaliate against someone who murders the baby. This is for a baby who has just become a self-owner, not a 2, 3, or 4 year old etc who can rationally contract for defense or insurance.