The Expressive Individualism of Abortion
The defense of a woman’s right to abortion begins and ends with the issue of bodily autonomy. According to pro-choice advocates, women should have a right over decisions related to their bodies. The Center for Reproductive Rights’ response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade argues that “the Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution’s textual protection for liberty to include the right to make personal decisions related to family, marriage, and childrearing, as well as the right to control one’s body.” Note the organization’s emphasis on, in this context, a woman’s right to her own body as the justification for terminating the life of her unborn baby. This is the standard argument from the pro-choice milieu.
The Christian worldview rejects such a logical process. While classical Christian theology argues that every human has a God-given right over one’s life decisions, this does not extend to any such act that directly harms the physical safety of another human person. Thus, Christianity does affirm a particular notion of a person’s right to bodily autonomy, but there is a limit to this conception. The pro-choice individual rejects such a view. Instead, women are entitled to fulfill their self-interests and inward desires, no matter the cost to the life of the unborn. What matters most is the fulfillment and actualization of the individual self despite the loss of life. Ultimately, this defense of abortion vis-à-vis bodily autonomy reflects the modern cultural framework of expressive individualism.
Expressive Individualism
Sociologist Robert Bellah coined expressive individualism in his work, Habits of the Heart. He describes expressive individualism as “the emphasis that each person has a unique core of feeling and intuition that should unfold or be expressed if individuality is to be realized.” [1] For the modern individual in America, independence exists “to cultivate and express the self and explore its vast social and cosmic identities.” [2] Without experiencing a complete sense of self-actualization, humans will never obtain genuine authenticity and freedom. Instead, the modern person is constrained to an exterior authority from which he or she wishes to be free. For Americans today, such a predicament is the stuff of nightmares.
Carl Trueman asserts in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self that in an expressivist ethos, individuals look to the inward disposition of the self for truth, meaning, and purpose. [3] As the individual turns to the self, he or she discovers one’s desires and individuality, and thus expresses those desires and individuality. This process results in the self-actualization and fulfillment of the individual.
Abortion and Expressive Individualism
Society expects the modern woman to pursue whatever vocation, dream, or reality she desires. If a woman wishes to compete as an Olympic athlete, society must destroy barriers that might inhibit her. For female Olympic athletes, pregnancy is an example of a potential obstacle to reaching their dream of obtaining a successful sports career. In a 2022 TIME Magazine article, two-time Olympic gold medalist Crissy Perham explains how having an abortion allowed her to achieve her dreams of competing as a swimmer in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. She says, “I wasn’t ready to be a mom, and having an abortion felt like I was given a second chance at life,” Perham wrote. “I was able to take control of my future and refocus my priorities. I got better in school, I started training really hard, and that summer, I won my first national championship. My life would be drastically different if I had been pregnant and forced to sit that race out, because that race changed the course of my life.” Perham, along with other female athletes, lament the overturning of the federal protection of a woman’s right to abortion. The group of concerned women states that they “are united in their deeply-held belief that women’s athletics could not have reached its current level of participation and success” without the right to end the life of an unborn baby.
In an expressivist culture, society must affirm the realization of the inward desires and dreams of Olympic female athletes like Perham. Since pregnancy would eliminate the potential expression of those dreams, it must be treated as a liability to the female athlete’s sense of authenticity. If Perham cannot terminate her pregnancy, she cannot win a gold medal and will ultimately never become her true self. Perham’s identity is tied to her desires and dreams of winning a gold medal. Women in modern America have assumed the same expressivist system in differing professions. Similar examples exist where female college students obtain an abortion to pursue other careers. In their mind, the unborn baby is but an obstacle to experiencing fulfillment as an individual. Christians must reject such a framework.
Conclusion
Most Americans affirm that all people should have the right to pursue whatever dream an individual may have. However, with the expressivist mindset inserted into the culture, following one’s dreams is the ultimate telos for the individual. Any obstacle to inward realization, outward expression, and genuine authenticity through a person’s profession must be eliminated at all costs. Christians should reject the current modern obsession with self-fulfillment. While individuals should have the right to pursue their dreams, this prerogative is not unlimited. The Constitution protects the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Yet, these protections do not extend to pursuits that would harm another person. In a modern expressivist culture, achieving the success of one’s inward dreams and desires is central to experiencing genuine authenticity and individuality. For pro-choice advocates, since pregnancy is viewed as an obstacle in America, a woman must have the right to choose abortion so that she can pursue whatever career, dream, or desire she wishes. Rejecting the expressive individualism within the abortion debate is paramount for Christians who desire to abide by the commands of Jesus in loving others.
[1] Robert Bellah, Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 334.
[2] Bellah, Habits of the Heart, 35.
[3] Carl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2020), 46; 50.
