Sandel...says that the most familiar liberal argument for abortion rights "claims to resolve the abortion question on the basis of neutrality and freedom of choice, without entering into the moral and religious controversy." Abortion rights supporters charge that their pro-life opponents are trying to impose a particular set of moral and religious views on society but that pro-choice people are not. They are simply arguing for freedom of choice. Sandel retorts:
"But this argument does not succeed. For if it's true that the developing fetus is morally equivalent to a child, then abortion is morally equivalent to infanticide. And few would maintain that government should let parents decide for themselves whether to kill their children. So the "pro-choice" position on the abortion debate is not really neutral on the underlying moral and theological question; it implicitly rests on the assumption that the Catholic Church's teaching on the moral status of the fetus...is false."
...the case for permitting abortion is no more neutral than the case for banning it. Both positions presupposesome answer to the underlying moral and religious controversy.
Generous Justice, p157-158
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