{"id":18789,"date":"2012-07-09T03:38:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T07:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=18789"},"modified":"2013-04-03T22:46:10","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T02:46:10","slug":"should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Should women face prison time for abortion?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

\"\"<\/a>Over the weekend, Susie Madrak of the unfortunately-named Crooks and Liars blog posted<\/a> a video of someone asking a small handful of pro-life demonstrators in Libertyville, Illinois (the organization they were with wasn\u2019t identified, though one demonstrator mentions Pro-Life Action League national director Joe Scheidler<\/a> being present) if they think women who have abortions should go to prison. Most of them say \u201cno\u201d and\/or admit they never gave the question much thought, leading Madrak to claim that the video demonstrates the pro-life movement\u2019s intellectual bankruptcy:<\/p>\n

I’ve been saying this all along: Once abortion opponents understand that you can’t have a different legal standard for women who have abortions, they will lose their taste for making it a crime.<\/p>\n

Because while they do enjoy climbing on that moral high horse, most of them don’t have the stomach for sending their sisters, daughters and neighbors to prison for murder.<\/p>\n

I do find it fascinating that none of these long-time anti-abortion activists ever even thought about the legal consequences about their entire “abortion is murder” crusade. I think it shows an interesting opening for this ongoing debate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the grand pantheon of Things Pro-Aborts Want to Discuss Other Than Abortion While Debating Abortion, throwing women in jail is near the top. They see it as a win-win proposition: if pro-lifers answer yes, we\u2019re heartless monsters; if no, we\u2019re phonies or idiots.<\/p>\n

That a few pro-lifers didn\u2019t have coherent answers may indicate that those individuals should reflect on the question more, but frankly, it\u2019s not nearly as embarrassing as the fact that most pro-choicers don\u2019t know the basics of embryology<\/a>. And it doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t an answer; if anything, it actually underscores<\/em> that they\u2019re motivated by the babies\u2019 suffering, not desires to punish women. Stopping the bloodshed is all they want, not retribution.<\/p>\n

(Say, y\u2019know who probably does have an answer? Joe Scheidler! If somebody told me he was at a protest where I was grilling people about pro-life thought, I\u2019d definitely want to track him down. I wonder where that video is\u2026)<\/p>\n

But since pro-aborts are bent on turning pro-lifers\u2019 compassion and sincerity into weapons against us, the question needs a serious treatment: should anti-abortion laws carry a criminal penalty for the women who seek them?<\/p>\n

Allegations to the contrary notwithstanding, this is a question the pro-life movement has considered a great deal<\/a>, and its members have largely reached consensus that punishment for abortion should rest predominantly with the one who performs the act: the abortionist.<\/p>\n

The first thing we need to remember is law\u2019s first purpose: to prevent unjust action. The point of ending abortion is just that: ending abortion. If a state finds that a particular legal punishment for doctors who perform abortions has a satisfactory deterrent effect on their abortion rates, then victory is achieved. Punishing women on top of that would serve no purpose other than making a moral statement. Acting on principle and on prudence need not be mutually exclusive.<\/p>\n

Second, it\u2019s important to recognize the legal and cultural context that distinguishes abortion from post-birth homicide, theft, rape, and just about every other crime: only abortion has decades of legal recognition and social celebration as a constitutional right, and pervasive misinformation about what its victim is – a propaganda campaign backed by a powerful industry, influential advocacy groups, forces at every level of government, one of America\u2019s two main political parties, and scores of wide-ranging voices in our media, education establishment, and popular culture. It\u2019s entirely appropriate to consider how pervasively abortion-seekers have been misled for so long when deciding whether to punish them.<\/p>\n

Like so many dimensions of the abortion debate, illumination can be found by turning to America\u2019s slavery debate. Throughout his career, Abraham Lincoln supported<\/a> a number of compensated emancipation proposals – freeing slaves, but paying owners for their financial loss. Would pro-choicers say that made his opposition to slavery any less sincere or thoughtful?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe feeling is against slavery, not against the South,\u201d he said. \u201cUntil very recently the North has been of the same opinion. For two hundred years the whole country has admitted it,\u201d and any solution to the crisis had to recognize that context. Compensation, he hoped, would help emancipation go down more peacefully (of course, the Civil War kept that theory from being tested). Today\u2019s context is different – we\u2019d punish rather than pay slavers because slavery\u2019s evil has been universally understood for the past century and a half.<\/p>\n

Similarly, when the indoctrination has been uprooted and a more enlightened consensus on abortion is reached, a future generation might decide that abortion-seeking women should be presumed to fully understand what they\u2019re destroying, and they may choose to punish them accordingly. But that\u2019s not where we are today. Pro-lifers recognize how the abortion movement victimizes mother and child alike, so we\u2019re dedicated to saving both.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dedicated to saving both mother and child.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nShould women face prison time for abortion? - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should women face prison time for abortion? - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dedicated to saving both mother and child.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-07-09T07:38:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-04-04T02:46:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/march_group_photo_og-1-700x467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"467\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Calvin Freiburger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Calvin Freiburger\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6eb2bf94c8064b71953ba137bf413c4d\"},\"headline\":\"Should women face prison time for abortion?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-07-09T07:38:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-04T02:46:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\"},\"wordCount\":836,\"commentCount\":37,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Analysis\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/should-women-face-prison-time-for-abortion\/\",\"name\":\"Should women face prison time for abortion? 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Calvin is an editor and administrator for TheFederalistPapers.org, and his work has appeared on NewsRealBlog.com, PatriotUpdate.com, LifeNews.com, LifeSiteNews.com, RightWisconsin.com, AmericanThinker.com, Stream.org, AmericanClarion.org, and more. Please check out his official website, ConservativeStandards.com. 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