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The Mystery Of Life In The Laboratory Of Democracy: Personal Autonomy In State Law, Adam J. Macleod
The Mystery Of Life In The Laboratory Of Democracy: Personal Autonomy In State Law, Adam J. Macleod
Faculty Articles
Recent controversies, such as enactment of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance and the legalization of assisted suicide in Washington and Montana, have renewed the war over personal autonomy. Debates about the value and limits of personal autonomy also play major roles in the controversies over abortion, same-sex intimacy, and same-sex marriage. On one side of the autonomy war, advocates of unfettered individual freedom assert that by her un-coerced and autonomous choice, the individual person determines the value of human goods such as life, health, and marriage.
On the other side, proponents of strong government restrictions on personal choice …