Evictionism, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice: A Response

Paul Wojda

doi:10.18290/rf25734.16

Published : 2025-12-29

Vol. 73 No. 4 (2025)

Evictionism, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice: A Response

Paul Wojda

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1040-8803

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf25734.16

Abstract

This short essay is a response to Walter Block’s “evictionist” alternative to the “pro-life” and “pro-choice” arguments over abortion. It addresses Block’s use of metaphors in the ongoing debate surrounding reproductive freedom and abortion in contemporary liberal democracies. It focuses specifically on Block’s libertarian framing of the pregnant woman as a “landlord” and the fetus as an “intruder” or “squatter”. The essay argues that these images are problematic and unlikely to help advance debate on reproductive liberty, abortion in particular, beyond its current impasse.

Keywords:

Walter Block, evictionism, abortion debate, libertarianism, metaphors

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Wojda, P. (2025). Evictionism, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice: A Response. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 73(4), 293–304. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf25734.16

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Block, Walter E. 1977. “Toward a Libertarian Theory of Abortion.” The Libertarian Forum 10 (9): 6–8.

Block, Walter E. 2011. “Evictionism Is Libertarian; Departurism Is Not: Critical Comments on Parr.” Libertarian Papers 3 (36): 1–15.

Block, Walter E. 2025. “Evictionism, Pro-Life and Pro-Choice.” Roczniki Filozoficzne 73 (4): 245–59. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf25734.13.

Camosy, Charles C. 2016. Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Desmond, Matthew. 2016. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. New York: Crown Publishers.

Desmond, Matthew. 2023. Poverty, by America. London: Allen Lane.

Frankfort, Ellen. 1972. Vaginal Politics. New York: Bantam Books.

Jorgensen, Abigail. 2024. “St. Gianna Beretta Molla: A Saint for Our Times.” Church Life Journal, March 19, 2024. https://tinyurl.com/ysmt622w.

Little, Margaret Olivia. 2014. “Abortion and the Margins of Personhood.” In Potentiality: Metaphysical and Bioethical Dimensions, edited by John P. Lizza, 174–90. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

McKeon, Richard. 1964/2005. “The Future of the Liberal Arts.” In Selected Writings of Richard McKeon, vol. 2, Culture, Education, and the Arts, edited by Zahava K. McKeon and William G. Swenson, 273–82. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Oakeshott, Michael. 1962. “The Voice of Poetry in the Language of Mankind.” In Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, 197–247. New York: Basic Books.

O’Brien, Dennis. 2011. “Can We Talk about Abortion? An Exchange.” Commonweal 138 (16), September 12, 2011. https://tinyurl.com/ykwue2xb.

Paglia, Camille. 1994. Vamps and Tramps: New Essays. New York: Vintage Books.

Paglia, Camille. 2016. “Feminists Have Abortion Wrong, Trump and Hillary Miscues Highlight a Frozen National Debate.” Salon, April 7, 2016. https://tinyurl.com/556hh5f3.

Reardon, David C., Julie Makimaa, and Amy Sobie, eds. 2000. Victims and Victors: Speaking Out about Their Pregnancies, Abortions, and Children Resulting from Sexual Assault. Gulf Breeze, FL: Acorn Books.

Rhonheimer, Martin. 2009. Vital Conflicts in Medical Ethics: A Virtue Approach to Craniotomy and Tubal Pregnancies. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press of America.

Sokolowski, Robert. 1985. Moral Action: A Phenomenological Study. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Thomson, Judith J. 1971. “A Defense of Abortion.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (1): 47–66.

Tribe, Laurence H. 1990. Abortion: The Clash of Absolutes. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Wolf, Naomi. 1995. “Our Bodies, Our Souls: Rethinking Prochoice Rhetoric.” The New Republic (October 16). https://tinyurl.com/y2fu2ahf.