How About Stoning?

Here's a question pro-lifers don't seem able to answer-

If abortion is illegal, what is the legal punishment for the woman? What sentence is she given?

Digby wrote a lengthy post on this issue. He linked to a video (down now for bandwith reasons) in which anti-abortion protestors are asked that very question. They responded that they didn't know and that, in fact, they had never even thought about it before.

That really says it all about how insane and backwards an abortion ban is.

Digby has thoughts on this craziness-

It's time we make them think about it. Most anti-abortion legislation makes no sense morally and these people need to be led through the various steps that will show them this. The cognitive dissonence was apparent on these people's faces. It's a question that everyone from the family pro-choice supporter to professional interviewers should always ask. ... The looks on these womens' faces in that video were amazing: confusion, frustration, pain. Their position is untenable and they know it.

Some professional interviewers have asked, of course. Here's a snippet from an old interview between Chris Matthews and Pat Toomey:

MATTHEWS: If you go back to state‘s rights on abortion, would you support banning abortion in Pennsylvania?

TOOMEY: Yes, I would, yes.

....

MATTHEWS: In other words, if a woman had an abortion in Pennsylvania, what would you do to her? ... You said you want to ban it. You want to use the law to outlaw abortion.

TOOMEY: That‘s right.

MATTHEWS: What would you do to a woman who had an abortion? What would you do to her?

TOOMEY: Oh, I think we would first look at the doctor who is performing the abortion and have some penalties
....

MATTHEWS: Why? Why don‘t you go after the woman? ... This is what the whole issue of abortion is and where all the B.S. comes into this argument. Are you willing to say that you would put a woman in prison for having an abortion?

TOOMEY: Chris, I‘m not sure what the penalty would be. I‘m saying...
....

MATTHEWS: Well, say what you want it to be. ..... You said it should be banned. Would you please stand up for what you believe?

TOOMEY: That‘s right.

MATTHEWS: If abortion is wrong and it‘s a crime and it‘s murder, tell me what the punishment should be.

TOOMEY: And I‘m telling you that there should be legal action taken against the doctor who performs it.

MATTHEWS: And?

TOOMEY: And we‘ve got to think through what we would do with regard to the woman.

MATTHEWS: What would you like to do? .... You are running for the United States Senate. .... And you‘ve said we ought to get rid of Roe v. Wade and you said that abortion should be banned in Pennsylvania, but you won‘t tell me what the penalty should be.

.... You want to make up a law without a penalty. It‘s a crime without a penalty. I‘ve never heard of such a thing. ... I‘m serious. This is the problem and the confusion over abortion rights in this country. .... People on the far right side won‘t say what they‘ll do.

They simply say they don‘t like the way things are now. What would you do?

TOOMEY: Well, if we overturn Roe vs. Wade, one of the things we could do is leave it to states to make some decisions about this.

....

MATTHEWS: And what would you support Pennsylvania doing? You are running for senator from Pennsylvania. What should Pennsylvania do to women who decide to have an abortion? What would you do to them?

TOOMEY: Chris, I‘ve told you, I haven‘t figured out what I think we should be doing with it.
....

MATTHEWS: Well, shouldn‘t you figure out a few of these things before you run for office? ....Shouldn‘t you make those basic decisions?

That about sums it up. They hate abortion (on instinct, out of habit, etc), but beyond that they haven't put much thought into the actual human element of this issue- who it would affect, the logistics of punishing a woman for making this difficult decision, and even how society will be able to provide for the countless number of unplanned, unwanted babies that will be brought into the world as the result of their crusade.

How many of these right-wingers will be lining up to adopt these unwanted babies if Roe is overturned? How many will volunteer to become foster parents? Very few, I imagine. Because this isn't about the children or morality or any of that. This is a battle and they simply want to win it. As Digby's find about that video shows, when it comes to the consequences of their actions, they haven't bothered to put any thought into it.