the “pro-life” position generally holds that abortion should be illegal in the u.s. (made so on a state-by-state basis, one would expect) because it is the murder of a human being. indeed, if their reasoning holds, abortion is the willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder of a human being.

in illinois, punishment for first-degree murder (which covers willful, deliberate and premeditated murder) includes the death penalty. as the perpetrator of murder for hire, a person who performs an abortion would be eligible for capital punishment. as the solicitor of murder for hire, the woman who has an abortion would face 20-40 years in prison.¹

seems pretty straightforward. and yet, these abortion protesters in libertyville² were hard pressed to come up with any appropriate penalty for a woman who had a hypothetical illegal abortion. most hadn’t even considered the question of what should be done to those women. (the young woman at 4:08 has the most reasoned response, however even she is visibly uncomfortable with suggesting an appropriate penalty.)

interesting. perhaps they believe abortion should be illegal, but decriminalized?

hat tip: justin
_____________________
¹ 720 ILCS 5/Art. 9 and 720 ILCS 5/Art. 8
² i’m assuming that’s libertyville, IL