Just the other day I raised the question of jail time for abortive women in a post Roe world on my own little blog and today I come to find out that it has recently been a pretty heavy topic of conversation nationally. This is largely due to Anna Quindlen’s Newsweek article, How Much Jail Time?, in which she addresses the dilemma pro-lifers would face if Roe was ever over-turned – what would be the penalty for procuring an illegal abortion? She claims that:
there are only two logical choices: hold women accountable for a criminal act by sending them to prison, or refuse to criminalize the act in the first place.
This lead to an NRO symposium of pro-life experts tackling that very question. Many of the contributers are operating under the assumption that the women would be seeking the services of an abortion provider, like they do today. In which case the provider would be the main culprit subject to punishment, which is fine. But, if the person who actually performs the procedure deserves punishment, they don’t then consider what happens when the woman performs the abortion herself. I did enjoy a couple of the answers, however. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, writes:
The fact of the matter is that compassion for women before abortion was legal and compassion for them after unborn protections are enforced will drive the law. The focus of such laws is on protection, not punishment. Women were not punished by the legal system before 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision and there is absolutely no drive to punish her now. While the position may be counterintuitive to some, it is clearly a uniquely American case of handling a delicate and tragic situation with sensitivity.
Party of Death author, Ramesh Ponnuru, says:
For now, let me just say this in defense of this conclusion: The crucial legal goal of the pro-life movement is not any particular set of punishments. It is that unborn children be protected in law. We could, for example, eventually secure laws that prohibited most abortions, that removed the medical licenses of doctors who committed illegal abortions, and that imposed fines on people who committed them without medical licenses. If that legal regime sufficed to protect unborn children, there would be no need to go further.
Criminalizing abortion is not about punishment, it is about the protection of women (from the harmful effects of abortion) and unborn children (from being murdered in the womb).
HT: Jivin J
2 Comments on “Post “Roe” Policy”
Quindlen’s so-called dilemma is a phoney. You don’t have to either throw women in jail OR keep abortion legal.
Many criminal laws reserve the harsh punishment for the “pusher” and go easy on the “user.”
When Roe v. Wade is overturned there is no reason why the laws could not zero in on the abortionists and leave the women alone.
I hear ya. But the pro-abortion crowd will milk this stuff for all it’s worth. You know, cuz pro-lifers are just a bunch of woman hating bigots. Speaking of bigotry, I really love how people who would probably consider themselves “pro-choice” hailed the Duggars “choice” to have a (very) large family. Here is (a very explicit) example; and another (from child 16) of how they did no such thing.