What should happen to women who have abortions?

Hmm, I found this video off...of all places...Pharyngula! Now, I don't know how recent it is but here we go anyway if you have not seen it. I do have a couple of issues with the vid and it's not completely perfect or an "OMG YES TAKEDOWN!" but I still thought it was innerestin'.:

A film guy goes to an anti-abortion demonstration rally and asks them do they think abortion is illegal. Naturally the answer is yes. Then he asks them what should be done with the women who have illegal abortions. And the answer is "...."



I've actually found a lot of times when you ask a "pro-lifer" if abortion should be illegal and why, they'll give you a myriad of reasons ranging from respectable to jaw-dropping. But ask them what should be done with the women that have illegal abortions anyway and the ranting & raving usually stops. Sometimes. Then you'll have the folks that think OF COURSE the women should be persecuted and jailed.

There's two things I...well "liked" isn't the word, I guess appreciated. For one, it highlights the fact that illegal or not, women aren't going to just stop having abortions like "Oh, they're not legal anymore, thank god." To me that kind of reasoning signifies that some of these people are either thinking about a totally different "abortion" that I'm thinking about or they're just thinking of the women who use it as some form of childbirth. Not the women who get abortions for any other reason like medical, incest/rape cases, accidental birth, other reasons a woman might feel she needs an abortion.

I mean, really, I don't think there's a woman out there that gets pregnant and says, "Well I better go put myself through the trauma of an abortion for the hell of it." Seriously--and I've never had an abortion myself but I've known two friends that have--abortion is a serious and hard decision WITH THE WOMAN HAVING IT. Not you, not your fellow anti-abortionists, not anyone THE WOMAN doesn't wish to include. Buuuh.

But all that aside, the other thing I appreciated was the question itself. He didn't ask what we should do with the doctors that perform the abortion, he asked what about the women. Obviously if he'd asked about the doctors, nurses present what have you the answer would have been to BURN THEM. Oh, but what about the women that have those back alley way, home with a piece of wood or coat hanger abortions? What about THEM? What do we do with THEM and any women that choose to have an abortion? Hmmm.

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