John Balentine accuses the Maine Democratic leadership of logical inconsistency in seeking to legally limit parental withholding of vaccinations while approving a bill expanding the number of providers of abortions.
The inconsistency is his. Whatever one may think of its moral implications, abortion remains an essentially private decision, but the act of sending an unvaccinated child who may be carrying serious and communicable diseases into the world is a public one, just as drinking alcohol at home is a private decision, but getting behind the wheel after having done so is a public one.
Balentine says that he doesn’t want the government getting involved with “decisions of the family unit.” Logical consistency can oppose this, but can still give governmental authority to a police officer to stop an intoxicated driver or to a legislature to pass laws that enforce vaccinations to prevent a public health crisis.
Harold Stover
Hollis
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