Why are people who claim to be pro-life, also pro-capital punishment? Isn't murder, murder?

Question

Should we let them grow up & THEN kill them?

Answer 1

Yes, you have summed up their argument perfectly: let them be born, wanted or not -- and when after a horrible life they wind up in prison, fry 'em.

I so often hear from the anti-abortionists (I refuse to call them "pro-life" because of what you mention) that "these children could be adopted by loving families" -- which is pure poppycock. There are hundreds of thousands of children in the US right now that get placed in foster care or in institutional settings because they never get adopted. These services would be overwhelmed if abortion was outlawed, and we'd just have that many more children growing up without a family.

But that's beside the point -- the point truly is, as defined by the supreme court of the US, that it is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. The choice to bring a fetus to term or to abort it belongs to the woman that carries it -- nobody else. That's the law. If a particular person doesn't like abortion, then don't have one. But they have no right to make that decision for anybody else.

Answer 2

I was pro life and pro capital punishment. But one thing made me change my mind but just a bit. Some of the old cases that are being worked on by lawyers and students pro bono, and they have found at least four that I have heard of, I am sure there are more, cases that the man and or woman have been found not guilty through DNA that they did not have at the time of their arrest and trial.And these people have spend 10 to 18 years in prison for nothing. So now, my mind has sway just a bit because of that. I am still pro-life and a little pro-capital punishment, I guess it depends on the case, if it is a new case, and all the evidence says he did do it, I will definitely say kill him. No play on words on that.

Answer 3

No, there is a difference. Murder is the taking of innocent life. There is such a thing as justifiable homicide. If someone is trying to kill you, don't you think that you are entitled to use force, including deadly force to protect yourself? Self defense is justifiable homicide. Obviously, if you were able to defend yourself withouth using deadly force, you would be legally and morally obligated to do so.

Capital punishment is executing the law that says when a person is convicted of a capital crime, they forfeit their life. The convicted murderer is not innocent life, so his execution is not murder, any more than if he were killed in the attempt to commit murder. The state does not murder him, he forfeits his life when he commits the act of murder. This is done for two reasons:

First, it guarantees that he will not be able to murder again. And secondly, it serves as a deterrent to other people. They realize that they may forfeit their own live if they murder someone else.

Some people say that capital punishment does not deter. I disagree. It seems to work for the Mafia. Members of the Mafia generally don't talk, because they know that it will be their death warrant. Capital punishment is only effective as a deterrent if it is used. Allowing a murderer to die of old age on death row doesn't solve anything.

Another benefit of capital punishment is that it prevents some do-gooder from releasing a Charlie Manson in the future. How would you feel about Charlie getting paroled?

Answer 4

I never thought about this, but I am for letting women choosing to abort and against capital punishment. I think that it is because I believe that a fetus under 3 months is still a fetus, but a person will suffer more in jail rather than "getting out easy" in death.

Who knows, if I ever had to face either of those decisions in my personal life my opinion might change.

Answer 5

Sometimes I wonder the same thing. Although I do understand where people are coming from when they say that babies don't deserve to die, and murderers do.

I am pro-life and against both abortion and capital punishment. I'm also against assisted suicide. I believe that they shouldn't have let Terri Schiavo die.

Pro-life, to me, means more than just anti-abortion.

Answer 6

True I'm not for capital punishment or abortion or embryonic stem cell research or euthenasia. But you must remember that abortion is the murder of the innocent. Hilary Clinton once heard Mother Teresa speak a long time ago about the evil of abortion, I'm surprised she doesnt support life.

Answer 7

Not all Christians are for capital punishment, and not all Christians are republican. Stop putting people in containers, and talk to them. You will be surprised. I don't really konw how I stand on capital punishment. I know we must defend our country, and I also know some people appear to be unsaveable. I do not think I have the ability to weigh in on whether someone lives or dies in our justice system. Why are people looking for perfection in this world and other people, and not in the eternal world where there will be perfection one day. I really don't understand all this negative hatred on either end here. Ok, i'm out of here today. peace all

Answer 8

I'm familiar with their line of thought. They claim that the ten commandments say "thou shalt not murder," that is kill without legal authority. FOr the state to kill as in capital punishment or in war is by definition lawful according to this logic, therefore not murder, and therefore not in violation of the 10 commandments.

It is dishonest for them to call themslves pro life, however, since they clearly think that it is permitted to take human life in the right circumstances.

Answer 9

There is a difference between an innocent life and a criminal life. An aborted child was never given a chance to live, a serial criminal has had many chances at society's [and victims'] expense and has refused to be rehabilitated. However, guilt must be proven beyond any doubt for the death penalty to be just.

Answer 10

I think the reasoning might be that someone who gets capital punishment deserves it. That person has made choices which go against the mores of society. On the other hand, killing an unborn child is different because that child has no choice. They have no defenses and have never done wrong. I'm pro-choice and pro-capital punishment.