To defend abortion as an inviolable , it has to be understood as a claim of uncompromising justice. The hard-hitting essays in this book make that case. Challenging both defenders of and its conservative critics, Ben Bayer lays out a rational, secular defense of the right to abortion based on Ayn Rand's philosophy. Bayer shows how the principles of Rand's individualist ethics enshrine a woman's right to her own happiness, without limitation by any competing "rights" of the fetus. Can the controversy over abortion be settled by scientific facts alone? No, Bayer explains, because philosophical reasoning is needed to interpret the relevance of the science. Ultimately the right to abortion-which Bayer argues should be legal until birth-allows a woman to protect what's sacred about life: her life and future.