Kamala Harris's Unduly Narrow View of Bodily Autonomy

Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden’s likely replacement on the Democratic ticket, is known for her advocacy of abortion rights. I think she’s largely right on that issue. But she—and many others—overlook the reality that bodily autonomy rationales for abortion rights also justify abolishing a wide range of other restrictions on people’s rights to control their bodies. If you really believe in the principle of “My Body, My Choice,” the implications go far beyond this one issue. Washington Post columnist Monica Hesse recently highlighted an episode from Harris’s career that illustrates the problem:

Listen, nearly everything you need to know about the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris can be summed up by 19 words she uttered at the 2018 confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Harris, then a senator from California serving on the Judicial Committee, had used up several minutes trying to pin down Kavanaugh’s opinion on Roe v. Wade. Like nearly every senator on the topic, she was mostly unsuccessful….

Finally, in a cool and deliciously patient voice, Harris changed tactics:

With the notable exception of mandatory draft registration (which remains limited to males), these policies all constrain women, as well as men. But they are still severe restraints on bodily autonomy, including that of men. Some of them—especially the bans on organ markets and medical treatments approved by the FDA—literally kill large numbers of people.

Moreover, most of these other issues pose easier cases than abortion, where pro-lifers at least have a plausible argument that restrictions are needed to preserve the lives of innocents who did not consent to the procedure. I largely agree with the pro-choice side of the issue; but the moral status of the fetus makes abortion a comparatively difficult question. By contrast, most other restrictions on bodily autonomy—including the War on Drugs and bans on organ markets—are paternalistic in nature. They invade the bodily autonomy of consenting adults, supposedly for their own good.

Elsewhere, I have explained why efforts to distinguish these other cases are either wrong, would justify abortion bans, as well, or some combination of both. For example, the argument that bodily autonomy can be restricted when payment is involved, or when people enter into transactions in part because of poverty, can also be used to justify a wide range of abortion restrictions.

Yet, with rare exceptions, such as her commendable advocacy of marijuana legalization, Harris supports most of these other policies restricting bodily autonomy. It doesn’t seem to bother her that they “give the government the power to make decisions about the…. body.” In that respect, she is hardly unusual. Most other mainstream politicians take similar stances.

I am not politically naive. The obvious reason Harris and many other political leaders take contradictory stances on bodily autonomy is that abortion rights enjoy broad popularity, while most other bodily autonomy issues are either less salient, less popular, or some combination of both. Being pro-choice on abortion may well help Harris win over crucial swing-voters. Being pro-choice on organ markets or drugs other than marijuana probably won’t. It could well hurt.

Right-wing politicians are also often inconsistent on bodily autonomy issues. They too prioritize political expediency.

I don’t expect Harris and most other politicians to adopt a more consistent stance anytime soon. But I hope that calling attention to these contradictions might lead more people to give thought to the broader implications of arguments for bodily autonomy. The government should indeed get out of the business of exercising control over people’s bodies. On that, Kamala Harris is more right than she herself is willing to admit.

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