The Boundaries of Freedom

Everyone has personal boundaries that must not be crossed. These can be physical, like when someone stands too close at a party, or emotional, such as when someone pries into your private life and asks whether your marriage is in trouble. Our instinct when boundaries are violated is to back away or confront the violator. Yet, certain individuals in government believe it’s not only their duty to violate your boundaries but also their right.

Take, for example, a bill introduced earlier this year in Missouri. House Bill 807 would have created a government-run database of expectant mothers—women identified as “at risk” of seeking an abortion and therefore targeted for state intervention. The bill failed to advance out of committee, but its mere existence reveals how some lawmakers think about women’s rights. Most disturbing is that the bill didn’t make participation voluntary; it opened the door for a neighbor, relative, or even a casual acquaintance to spy on and report a pregnant woman as “at risk” and enter her name into the database, without her consent. That information could then be shared widely, across state lines, and even with law enforcement.

It’s hard not to think of The Handmaid’s Tale, where women are reduced to vessels for childbearing, controlled and surveilled by the state.

What’s truly alarming is that many people, including many women, seem untroubled by this kind of government intrusion. Imagine how offensive it would be if a stranger asked a woman whether she was pregnant and if she planned to have an abortion. Yet when it’s the government doing the asking and using a database to track that information, it somehow becomes acceptable to some people.

It’s remarkable how easily some people tolerate such violations, as long as they believe it serves a political cause they support. Consider the case of Bradley Bartell. When his wife, Camila Muñoz, who had overstayed a work-study visa while seeking permanent residency, was detained in an ICE raid, Bartell said he didn’t regret voting for Trump. Incredibly, he blamed the immigration system inherited from Biden, not Trump’s policies. “He [Trump] didn’t create the system, but he does have an opportunity to improve it,” Bartell said in an interview. The cognitive dissonance is eye-popping: if a stranger kidnapped his wife, no one would blame him for fighting back with deadly force. But when armed and masked goon squads sent by the government do it, it’s somehow acceptable and righteous.

What we’re fighting in this country is not just our rapid slide into authoritarianism but also some individuals’ dangerous willingness to not only accept it but to excuse it with enthusiasm. They tell themselves it’s okay when the state crosses lines they’d never tolerate from anyone else, so long as it aligns with their politics.

If we’re to halt our descent into authoritarianism, we must find the courage to say, "This is not okay." Some may never get there on their own, so the rest of us must stand for them—and for all of us—by pushing back against those ambitious individuals in the government who would leap across our boundaries and snatch away our freedom.