Pro-lifers can be duplistic in their thinking. On one hand we view the unborn child as fully human, and others not.
There is one major argument pro-aborts always win. How should we punish women who have abortions – if it becomes illegal? It is at this point that we balk. They win every time.
I love Randall Terry and Joe Schiedler dearly, and have the utmost respect for them, but they dropped the ball on this question.
A number of years back, Ronald Reagan’s son had a talk show on which the two appeared. It was your typical liberal talk show with the audience gutted with pro-aborts. Randy and Joe handled themselves marvelously until the question was raised, “How should women who kill their unborn children be punished – if abortion becomes illegal?” Randy and Joe fumbled this question badly. There was some stuttering, and some rambling about letting state laws deal with that question (it had something to do with manslaughter, and the woman receiving 5 -10 years of prison).
With this answer, the moderator’s face dropped, and a audible groan could be heard from the audience. You see, Randy and Joe’s presentation previous to this was so compelling they had begun to convert the audience. The truth often has that effect. They had marvelously shown the humanity and worth of the unborn child. They were even successful at getting graphic abortion pictures on the camera. The proaborts were won over – until their answer to that one question.
It was as if all the air was let out the room. Suddenly, all the great points that were made in favor of the unborn child went out the window. It was as if a unison nod over swept the room saying, “Uh-huh, I knew it couldn’t be that human.”
Their weak answer concerning state laws (giving 5-10 year sentences) showed hypocrisy to all who listened to their speech about how human the unborn baby is. All gains made with the audience were lost from that point on. Their credibility was lost.
Saints, we need to be bold and consistent. If the unborn child really is a fully human baby – worthy of all the human protections we enjoy – then the mother who murders her unborn child should receive the death penalty. Plain and simple. To say otherwise negates everything else we have said. We are in essence saying, “The unborn child is fully human, but ….”
Granted, the pro-aborts would give us an extremely hard time, but so what? They do that anyway. They twist and distort the truth, because there is no truth in them. We, ourselves, have twisted the truth to try to appear more loving, caring and understanding of the mother’s plight. The problem is, the only thing that appears is our hypocrisy in dealing with the humanity of the unborn child when their worthiness in a court of law, is somehow less than that of the born.
Consider how we throw fits at murderers who only get 5-10 years in prison for murdering a grandmother, a grandfather – or anyone born! Yet our pro-life answer is not the same for the unborn child. The child is not worthy of the same punishment a “born” person would receive if murdered.
It’s time for us to be consistent in our thinking and answers.
If you’re in favor of capital punishment – the death penalty. If against capital punishment – life in prison.
The feminists may hate us for it, wag the tongue and point the finger, but the worth of the unborn child has not been diminished. The unborn child has the same worth as the born child. We have been consistent.
Steve Wetzel