Women who violate abortion laws should be executed.

Just kidding.

But, it’s not necessarily murder. Here is why. Our society does not punish all homicides equally as murders; there are many classifications. For example, if you kill in self-defense, you are most definitely taking the life of a human being, you will be investigated, but you won’t spend day one in prison. You will still likely experience this as a profound trauma.

Murder depends on intent or reckless indifference to kill a human being, and that has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. First of all, you must determine if the woman has not been coerced to undergo the abortion, which often happens. You must ask what responsibilities minors have in bearing responsibility for the decision. This is not meant to comment on the state of mind of a woman who seeks an abortion, but for murder, you must rule out insanity. You must ask if the mother has full knowledge of the humanity of the life being taken, and the truth is, even with accessibility of sex education, many women are not knowledgeable about pre-natal development. The abortion doctor, on the other hand, knows very well what he is doing, and therefore bears more of the burden of responsibility. On a related note, as proponent of a consistent life ethic, I do not support the death penalty, and I wouldn’t in these cases either.

I’m asking why they don’t. I’m trying to point out the logical inconsistency to thinking that abortion is murder, but including one of the perpetrators as a victim of the crime. I am arguing that abortion is either murder or it isn’t; if it is, the State should sanction women for killing their children. If it isn’t, the State has no business banning it.

But do tell the truth on your side; you’re pushing this argument as a scare tactic. You’re engaged in fearmongering so as to scare people into keeping abortion legal. After all, only a cursory look at the policy positions of respectable pro-life organizations show that none want to convict the woman of conspiracy to commit murder.

Our position is that the woman is a victim. She’s a victim of unscrupulous males who just want to have sex and not take responsibility for their actions. A victim of greedy organizations like Planned Parenthood who make huge profits from abortions. Leftists who denigrate adoption, because they know it’s widespread use will result in fewer abortions. And most of all, victim of a leftist culture that promotes abortion as a “safe” alternative.

I’m sure you can dredge up some comment from someone some whackjob on the right saying that they want to imprison women who have had an abortion. They’re not representative and you know it. Further, I’ll write them out of the movement right here and now, and I’m pretty active in conservative circles.

Blow all the hot air you will, rstanton, and entertain yourself to your heart’s content with your “logic,” but we’re not going to change our minds as to what we think.

You’re not quiet as clever as you think. I responded to this as well.

I included to of your attempts at making a concrete point into one at my site.

This makes sense only if he believes that a fetus is not a human being, and a mother’s decision to end a pregnancy does not end a human life–that is, she is not a murderer.

This is not really complicated. Tom can argue that women should have no reproductive choice, but that only doctors should pay for helping them violate laws against it. But this argument depends on his views about the roles of women, not about the humanity of the fetus.