This weekend, I read a comment somewhere that said, about liberals criticizing those who chose to go to the beach, “I thought it was my choice to do what I want with my body.”

At first glance, this appears to be just another clever observation in a long line of examples exposing liberal hypocrisy. But then, when it comes to abortion, I’ve always wondered about the conservatives and liberal stances on this.

I thought it contradictory that conservatives wanted the government to make the rules on abortion and liberals to not want the government involved when, in nearly every other issue, it’s conservatives who want the government out of it and liberals who want the government to decide what’s best for all of us.

Taking another step in this logic chain, I realized that pro-life conservatives aren’t telling a woman what they can do with their body. They’re telling a woman what she can or cannot do to another body. (Because conservatives argue life begins at conception.)

Assuming this is the case, liberals are mischaracterizing the conservative position (as they do) when they say “conservatives want to tell you what you can do with your body.” In fact, they’re telling women what they can’t do to another body. (Much the way we’ve outlawed murder, which I think everyone’s cool with…)

Meanwhile, liberals, who argue a baby is not a person until they’re born (some argue that happens somewhere between conception and birth, but we’ll put that morass aside for these purposes…), argue against government intervention because the government shouldn’t be able to tell you what you can do, as long as you’re not affecting others.

Applying this back to the right to use beaches, people should be allowed to decide what they’re going to do with their own body, so long as it doesn’t affect others. Carrying this through, you can go to the beach and hang out, so long as you’re not affecting others. Standing near someone is not affecting them. Getting them sick is.

But we’ve established, with our long history of sick people going to work, attending school, and enjoying public events like professional sports and concerts, that while we wish sick people would stay home, we mostly all end up going, and we deal with those around us who do.

So why is this any different?

And, what would liberals think of someone went to a closed beach to have an abortion…?