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A uniquely controversial issue, particularly in American politics, is abortion.
Libertarian positions mirror those of other political views: Many libertarians believe that a woman's ownership of her own body and therefore her right to control it includes her right to terminate her pregnancy without any interference. Others believe the unborn child has a right to live, and believe that an abortion is the initiation of fatal force against an utterly helpless victim.
Of course, some Libertarian thought goes beyond the standard Pro-Choice/Pro-Life debate. The abortion debate consists of multiple questions, including whether or not abortion should be illegal, at what level of government this should be enforced, whether or not there is a Constitutional mandate one way or the other, and whether or not the government should fund abortions. Well, at least on the latter question, Libertarians agree, but the Libertarian candidate for President for 1996 and 2000 took a view quite different from two major candidates. Browne believes that abortion is wrong, but there is no federal authority to deal with it. Furthermore, Browne has stated his opposition to Roe v. Wade. Many other Libertarians likewise split from the usual answers.
While the abortion issue fiercely divides the American mainstream, pro-life and pro-choice libertarians are not so vehemently separated. Like anarchists and minarchists, they have much more in common than they have dividing them.
