Religion & Law

Over at PrawfsBlawg, Naomi Cahn and June Carbone assert that women who have abortions do so not because of concern that the pregnancy will interfere with their own life paths, but because they care deeply about the unborn child's future, and they are unable to make the commitments needed to ensure the child's flourishing.  Cahn and Carbone suggest that the pro-choice case needs to be reframed in these terms.  I'm skeptical on the empirical claim (I'm sure that some women do have abortions for that reason, but is there any empirical evidence that most or, as Carbone and Cahn seem to suggest, virtually all do?), and I'm doubtful on the normative claim -- i.e., that non-existence is preferable to an existence that lacks a decent chance for "flourishing" (whatever that is supposed to mean in this context).