Response to the Right to Abortion by Ayn Rand Ayn Rand was born in Russia and grew up to become a well respected and known European writer. While Rand attended high school in Russia the country started to turn to communism, this being something she was not a fan of. After communism had taken over, her father’s pharmacy was confiscated and her family then faced many financial burdens. While in high school she learned of the American government, she believed that it was the best system and dreamed of living in it. After attending two different universities where she studied history and psychology she then planned a trip to visit relatives in the United States, she had told the Russian authorities that it was a short visit, but never intended on returning. After visiting New York she permanently moved to Hollywood to become a part-time screenwriter and write her book Atlas Shrugged Later on in Rand’s life she wrote a book on her philosophy, objectivism, which she says was “a philosophy for living on earth”. Objectivism consisted of many different concepts, such as the fact that reality plays a huge role in life, that facts are facts despite hopes, whishes and dreams on someone. Reason is a man’s way of survival, the only knowledge he is born with; man, all men are born with the thought of self-interest, they will do what they need to help themselves out and better themselves in the end of the day. Rand believed that laissez-faire capitalism was the ideal political system, where force upon people was only due to the retaliation of that person. In Rand’s argument about abortion she makes many concrete points as to why women should have the right to determine whether or not they have an abortion done. She first discusses how an embryo is not yet a human being, it is potentially one, and an actual human being (the mother) has the right over a non-existent human being; therefore they have the right to decide what happens to the embryo. She then covers the topic of women having the right to decide what happens to their body. She states, “Abortion is a moral right”, so should the government, federal or state, intervene with these decisions? No, Rand is right; the government should not have power to tell women that they cannot abort a non-living human being. Once a mother is forced to have a child she is not ready for, what happens? She then lives her life in a miserable state, knowing she cannot afford to have a child physically and mentally, but being forced by the law, is just wrong. Rand makes the argument that an embryo is not yet a human being and that within the first three months it is still a piece of protoplasm. This is true, the embryo has potential to become a living being, but until it reaches that stage, it is still a non-living organism; therefore nothing will be killed if it is not yet living. Anyone who has ever had a child knows the struggle it is to raise one, having a child can destroy one’s life, although that sounds very harsh it is sometimes true; dreams and goals of a mother are put aside and they must then do everything possible to raise the child, to support it and