From:
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2019 8:00 AM
To: Walter Block <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: FW: Debate: What is a Libertarian Position on Abortion?
Sunday, December 8
Dear Walter,
I just wanted to note with satisfaction that, out of all the public policy
debates in the world, the matter of abortion is the one that’s argued by
most analysts on libertarian grounds. You don’t need to be a radical
libertarian to consider abortion almost exclusively on libertarian
grounds. One way or the other, everybody looks at the issue at least
primarily that way.
In Your Sly Tribe, R
From: Walter Block [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Saturday, November 16, 2019 1:46 PM
To: R
Subject: RE: FW: Debate: What is a Libertarian Position on Abortion? – Sunday, December 8
Dear R:
I wish I could agree with you. I think very few people look at anything
from a libertarian point of view (there are all too few of us), and, even,
most libertarians don’t look at abortion from this perspective. If they
did, I contend, they’d all be evictionists.
This debate might be of interest to you:
December 8, 2019. Debate on Evictionism Walter E. Block v. Kerry Baldwin; moderator: Gene Epstein 646 872 0314; 45 Bleeker. Soho Forum. [email protected]. Resolved: While a pregnant woman should be legally required to help the fetus survive outside her body whenever that is possible, she retains the legal right to evict the fetus at any time during her pregnancy. I’ll be involved in a debate on abortion in NYC on December 8, 2019. For all the information on this event, go here; https://www.thesohoforum.org/walter-block-vs-kerry-baldwin. For the line-up of the entire upcoming SOHO debate series, go here: https://www.thesohoforum.org/
What’s the Correct Libertarian Position on Abortion? A Soho Forum Debate
Walter Block and Kerry Baldwin debate whether pregnant women should have the legal right to evict a fetus.
https://www.thesohoforum.org/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/OKU_xutF-eQ
Reason: https://reason.com/video/whats-the-correct-libertarian-position-on-abortion-a-soho-forum-debate/
While a pregnant woman should be legally required to help the fetus survive outside of her body whenever that is possible, she should retain the legal right to evict the fetus at any time during her pregnancy.
That was the resolution of a public debate hosted by the Soho Forum in New York City on December 8, 2019. It featured Walter Block arguing for the resolution and Kerry Baldwin arguing against it. Soho Forum Director Gene Epstein moderated.
It was an Oxford-style debate. That means the audience votes on the resolution at the beginning and end of the event, and the side that gains the most ground—mostly by picking up votes from the “undecided” category—is victorious. Block prevailed by convincing 13.85 percent of audience members to change their minds. Baldwin was not far behind, picking up 12.31 percent of the audience.
Block is the Harold E. Wirth Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair and Professor of Economics at Loyola University New Orleans, and a prolific author on Austrian economics and libertarian theory. He’s the author of Defending the Undefendable I and II, among many other books.
Kerry Baldwin is an independent researcher and writer with a B.A. in Philosophy from Arizona State University. Her work can be found at MereLiberty.com and at the Libertarian Christian Institute.
The Soho Forum, which is sponsored by the Reason Foundation, is a monthly debate series at the SubCulture Theater in Manhattan’s East Village.
Best regards,
Walter
1:49 am on December 27, 2019
