Do all those libertarians swooning over Ron Paul realize he’s no get-the-government-out-of-my life freedom-lover when it comes to reproductive rights? Today Representative Paul was in Washington–not toiling hard to abolish the Department of Education or to end the Iraq war–but holding a press conference with Norma Leah McCorvey. She was the “Jane Roe” of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Rove v. Wade decision, which declared that most antiabortion laws in the United States violated a constitutional right to privacy. But since then McCorvey has switched sides and has become an antiabortion activist. These days, she runs her own antiabortion ministry.
At the press conference, McCorvey endorsed Paul. For antiabortion outfits, McCorvey has long been a much used icon. And her support of Paul, who authored legislation in Congress that would define life as beginning at conception, could help his far-from-the-mainstream candidacy among social conservatives. But for his libertarian fans, this endorsement is also a reminder that Paul is indeed in favor of Big Government…when it would do his bidding. If elected president, Paul could fire all those people working at the Department of Education and offer them jobs chasing after anyone who obtains an abortion or uses an IUD.
