# Abortion, Mandatory Vaccination, and Bodily Autonomy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-mandatory-vaccination-and-bodily-autonomy/949518>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 25, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-mandatory-vaccination-and-bodily-autonomy/949518 "2021-08-25T19:21:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 39

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**Author:** ![Delayed\_Reflex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/delayed_reflex/32/3172_2.png) [@Delayed\_Reflex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delayed_Reflex)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-mandatory-vaccination-and-bodily-autonomy/949518/39 "2021-08-26T20:43:25Z")

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> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> I may be misunderstanding or misremembering, but I thought there were folks who’d argued in favor of unlimited bodily autonomy here before, at least as far as abortion was concerned. Does anyone else remember this, or holds this view?
> 
> Limited bodily autonomy makes a ton of sense to me: you have to have really, really good reasons to violate bodily autonomy. Requiring a moderately unpleasant experience in order to save the lives of other people qualifies as a really, really good reason. But I thought we had folks who’d argued that it didn’t–that you just don’t get to violate someone’s bodily autonomy.
> 
> If I’m wrong, I’m misunderstanding some folks’ views on abortion.

That’s what I remembered, too - [this lengthy thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-long-analysis-of-the-arguments-related-to-the-abortion-debate/836527/11) from a few years ago had quite a few people using bodily autonomy as the overriding principle for abortion. However, I expect that many people hold that position specifically within the confines of the abortion debate - eg. compare [this post](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-long-analysis-of-the-arguments-related-to-the-abortion-debate/836527/11) by iiandyiiii vs [his post in this thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abortion-mandatory-vaccination-and-bodily-autonomy/949518/28).

I too saw that position being somewhat inconsistent - I am 100% in your camp where bodily autonomy is balanced against impact against other people. So IMO the logically consistent position is that a fetus is not a person, therefore a woman exercising her bodily autonomy is not harming another person, vs. the position that a fetus IS a person but the woman’s right to bodily autonomy overrides that person’s right to life.

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