3 Negative Consequences from Not Prosecuting Parents for Obtaining Abortions

1. Exemptions Effectively Create a Right to a DIY Abortion

The motherhood exemption provides a tremendously flexible framework in which pro-choice lobbyists can still achieve their goal of “safe” and accessible abortions. The New York Times published an article last week from Cari Sietstra, a board member of the National Abortion Federation, encouraging pro-choice advocates to work toward a do-it-yourself (DIY) abortion industry that is allowed under pro-life legislation.

2. Penalties Are Deterrents

Penalties for stealing don’t completely thwart thieves, but there’d be a lot more theft if such consequences didn’t exist. One of the few things on which pro-choice and pro-life people agree is that killing a baby in the womb is often an excruciating decision. While some women have an abortion without ever even considering keeping their baby, it is a close call for most. Pro-lifers see this as a reason to build a shield of “compassion” into the law by exempting everyone from prosecution but the abortionist. This is a deeply flawed position.

3. Roe v. Wade Relied on Pro-lifers’ Inconsistency

As they argue for blanket exceptions, pro-life leaders often highlight the fact that pre-Roe abortion laws did not penalize mothers and fathers for abortion, only abortionists. Many pro-lifers would be surprised to find out that abortion bans that provided full and automatic immunity to parents who have their children killed formed part of the rationale for the majority ruling in Roe v Wade.

The Alternative: Abolition

There is a better way to end abortion than the tactics currently pushed in the mainstream pro-life movement: abolition. Abortion must be abolished through laws establishing the equal protection of the laws against murder for born and unborn humans alike. The murder of an unborn boy or girl will be treated exactly the same as the murder of a toddler or older child. Such laws are nothing more than the application of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment to state law.