I’d almost rather have someone argue that abortion is morally acceptable than have the thousandth person tell me, “I think abortion is killing and it’s wrong, but I can’t force that on others.” Knowing abortion is evil but believing it should be legal is a ridiculous position.

If Biden said, “I disagree with the Catholic Church and think abortion is morally acceptable,” I’d dispute that. But I’d have a lot more respect for him than when he says, “Abortion is immoral, but I can’t force my beliefs on everyone.” Every law enforces some kind of belief.

If you apply “I think X is wrong, but I can’t force that belief on others” to any other moral issue or law, you can immediately see how absurd it is as an argument. Everything hinges on whether X is wrong, not on whether one person is “forcing” their view on others.

Every single law enforces some kind of view of what is right or what is good or moral on the rest of the public. That’s sort of the point. So if you’re going to defend legal abortion to me, come up with a better reason than “It’s wrong, but I can’t force my beliefs on others.”

You’ll also need to come up with a better reason than, “You aren’t supporting giving people enough free stuff.” The government does not need to subsidize its citizens’ contraceptive choices or paid-leave from work in order to demand that they not kill their unborn children.

“Abortion will happen whether or not it’s legal,” they tell me. “We need to do stuff we all agree on, like free birth control.” First, we don’t all agree on that. Second, yes, tons of people do horrible illegal things. That’s not actually a case for legalizing those things.