Post this question about how to stump those who are pro-life: “If abortion was illegal, what should be done with the women who have illegal abortions?” That is the question Daniel Florian asks at his blog which has sparked a firestorm of comments 969 as of the writing of this post). He shows a video of pro-lifers being asked that question and they are entirely clueless. I certainly hope there were people present who could answer that question. It is a tough question to answer. If you say they deserve to go to jail or should face the death penalty for murder it makes you seem insensitive. Another difficulty with this question is that many of those who are pro-life are also against the death penalty.
I actually do think Daniel’s question is an excellent one and one that we should have an answer for. If you go the pacifist and anti-captial punishment route I guess you could call for life in prison since the murder would be premeditated. Pretty heartless, right? Or you could take a more redemptive route and reach out to those who have had abortions just like you would reach out to anyone else, because we all have done things that we shouldn’t have done. I do believe abortion is murder and I don’t mind saying that those who murder have consequences to face. When people in society violate the sanctity of human life there is a price to be paid. We get it when that person is murdered at the age of 5, 10, 25 or 65…why not also recognize that a few months prior to them being born? Isn’t it something that in many instances a perfectly viable baby, one that could survive if it was delivered that day, have been killed in the womb and then removed and somehow that is okay? If they were delivered on that same day and that same proceedure was administered to kill them it would be murder. Isn’t that crazy? Some in society only respect life because they are afraid of the consequences. That is true whether someone is going to murder a baby in the womb or someone who is 30 years old. So I don’t mind saying that if abortion was made illegal that there should be criminal consequences for that act because a life is a life. To me those who have no voice and are 100% vulnerable should receive even more protection than those who can at least protect themselves or get assistence from the police in the event of their life being in danger.
Another issue you face is that our society has taught that an unborn child is a fetus – a lifeless lump of goo that has no life. If that is what people believe, you can understand that people would abort an unwanted lump of goo from inside of them. But we know better. Lumps of goo don’t suck their thumb, have a heartbeat, get the hiccups, and kick. Babies do. If society recognized unborn babies as babies and a woman went illegally to get what she knew to be a baby killed within her, knowing it was illegal I would think there would be consequences for that. Also, many of us know people who have had abortions and it is hard to say that we should want friends and families members to be charged with murder just like some hell’s angel bad boy who killed three men in a bar fight. I just can’t get past the fact that a life is a life and I hope that as a society we can teach exactly that and educate people so that they won’t have a desire to have abortions because they will realize exactly what it is all about.
Am I off base here? How would you answer Daniel’s question?
0 Responses
I think jail time, coupled with some sort of mandatory community service/counseling focused in some way on engendering a sense of respect for life.
JMO
We are so far away from making abortions illegal that the pro-life movement has not wrestled with the question. We are more concerned about saving the children’s lives than about punishing those who would harm them.
Terry,
That is absolutely correct. Thanks for mentioning that very relevant piece of information.
I hope you don’t mind that I have been posting so many comments on your blog lately, Matt. You have been writing about a subject that is important to me, so it has been difficult to stay away from the keyboard:). I would like to share one more piece of information. At http://www.worldmag.com/articles/14857, you will find an interesting article by Marvin Olasky about the history of the pro-life movement in the 19th century (1800s). Few people know this history, but I think it could be useful as we try to make a difference today.
Terry,
I welcome your comments. I appreciate what you add to the conversation. Thanks for the link.