my body, my choice!

…except when you’re a poor resident of California, apparently.

Isn’t it funny that the same people who would scream bloody murder if someone proposed a ban on abortion in their state don’t have a problem with banning trans fats or denying the poor neighborhoods of Los Angeles access to cheap prepared food?

Regardless of your stance on abortion (and please don’t kick off that debate in the Comments), it has to strike one as odd that these folks have no issue with a woman hoovering out her uterus, but then actively try to prevent the same woman from having a super-sized Big Mac meal afterwards. Do you own your body, or don’t you?

Of course, banning new McDonald’s and KFC restaurants from being built in East and South L.A. means that all kinds of healthy restaurants are going to move into those neighborhoods to pick up the slack, ready to serve nutritious fare at prices that can compete with the $0.99 Value Menu…

Anyone pay attention in your Economics class? Let’s see if you can predict the effect of that particular piece of city ordinance, and what kind of effect it’s going to have on the obesity rates in East L.A.

Of course, they’re using the old “public health care costs” argument, which should give the proponents of a National Health Care System pause. This is the writing on the wall, folks…when the State picks up the tab for fixing your boo-boos, the State soon claims the right to control what you do with that body, and what goes into it. At that point, it’s only a matter of time before your “free” health care means putting up with a ban on risky sports and greasy foods, and mandatory exercise will be just around the corner. After all, when the State pays to have your body fixed, you become a number on a public expenditure ledger, and they’ll pass whatever laws they can think of to keep that number as low as possible.