Letters to the Editor
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Autonomy
We have as much control over our bodies as we believe we have.
Even if abortion is legal and free, a pregnant woman who doesn't view abortion as an option because her spouse/family would literally kill her doesn't have this autonomy we're talking about.
Laws against drugs, suicide, etc., are effective only inasmuch as people abide by them. People abide by laws they think are reasonable and/or strictly enforced. Failing the first of these, the law becomes a meaningless convention that's out of step with the more powerful regulator of behavior, cultural belief systems.
A woman who lives where abortion is illegal but chooses to get one anyway (in the face of serious risks to her health and life) has autonomy over her body, even though the law says otherwise.
None of us have total control over our bodies. We're all subject to the requirements of time, metabolism, sickness, other people's demands, etc. But this doesn't erase that valuable ideal, autonomy, from the equation.
We're all free only to the extent that we exercise our ability to shape our own lives.
Autonomy is an ideal, a blueprint, a potential. I believe in this ideal; I believe the government should put as few obstacles in the way of people realizing their potential for autonomy.