Right or Wrong?

Question

How can you say you are against abortion, but for capital punishment? Isn't the only difference the rationalzation for ending the life in question?

Answer 1

I think these are separate issues. Many people support the death penalty because they are fearful of killers being released into their communities and because they do not yet know the facts about the death penalty system and its alternatives. Here are a few facts about the death penalty, verifiable and sourced, and which do not refer to any moral argument.

Re: Deterrence
The death penalty isn’t a deterrent. Murder rates are actually higher in states with the death penalty than in states without it. Moreover, people who kill or commit other serious crimes do not think about the consequences or even that they will be caught (if they think at all.)

Re: cost
The death penalty costs far more than life in prison. The huge extra costs start to mount up even before the trial. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.

Re: Alternatives
48 states have life without parole on the books. It means what it says, is swift and sure and is rarely appealed. Being locked in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, forever, is certainly no picnic. Life without parole incapacitates a killer (keeps him from re-offending) and costs considerably less than the death penalty.

Re: Possibility of executing an innocent person
Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence, many having already served over 2 decades on death row. If we speed up the process we are bound to execute an innocent person. Once someone is executed the case is closed. If we execute an innocent person the real criminal is still out there and will have successfully avoided being charged.

Re: DNA
DNA is available in less than 10% of murder cases. It’s not a miracle cure for sentencing innocent people to death. It’s human nature to make mistakes.

Re: Who gets the death penalty
The death penalty isn’t reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Re: Victims families
The death penalty is very hard on victims’ families. They must relive their ordeal in the courts and the media. Life without parole is sure, swift and rarely appealed. Some victims families who support the death penalty in principal prefer life without parole because of how the death penalty affects families like theirs.

Opposing the death penalty doesn’t mean you condone brutal crimes or excuse people who commit them. According to a Gallup Poll, in 2006, 47% of all Americans prefer capital punishment while 48% prefer life without parole. Americans are learning the facts and making up their minds using common sense, not revenge or an eye for an eye sloganeering.

Answer 2

Abortion is the deliberate murder of an innocent unborn child.

Capital punishment is legitimate execution by the state for a guilty criminal.

That said........capital punishment is something that can be justified (Scripture supports this) but we should definitely use other methods to deter crime when possible. When other methods fail (i.e. rehabilitation for instance) then capital punishment may be sanctioned as a more drastic measure.

Because a valid court of law convicts and the state executes, capital punishment does not degenerate into "personal vengeance" by the victim's family (which would be wrong).

Keep in mind that it is MUCH worse for a man to lose his soul than to lose his life.

I understand you are talking about the value of human life here, and human life does always have value, but it is a fact that it is ok for people to give up their lives willingly (i.e. a man protecting his family, a hero rescuing someone, a soldier fighting a just war, etc etc) and so the fact that a life is being taken is not always a reason to say something is automatically wrong.

God bless you.

Answer 3

Nope... there are a lot of differences. The most important of which (at least to me) is that an unborn child hasn't done anything wrong. He or she is innocent.
Someone who agrees with capital punishment likely looks at as people getting "what they deserve." Thing is... it's essentially what we ALL deserve. Christ's grace and mercy is the difference. He took our sins - died for them to be atoned for - and Christians are not supposed to condemn those who are without God (at least according to MY Bible).

I am not necessarily for or against capital punishment. I am definitely against abortion, however. Abortion is murder. Capital punishment walks a thin line between good and bad judgment; between keeping people safe from those who are a threat to society and getting revenge. I don't see it as an open and shut case... it depends on why and how the judgment comes about. I DO believe, however, that those with such a sentence have time to get right with God if it's going to be done. In an abortion, it's the people killing the child that need to repent.

Answer 4

I am against both myself, but I guess people could argue that in the case of the abortion, the child has no choice in his/her life being ended. Where as in the case of capital punishment, the criminal had the choice to commit the crime (if in fact they did commit the crime and were not wrongly accused, which is just one of the many reasons I am against capital punishment).

Answer 5

Right and wrong are both binary words. there would be no right without the wrong. it all depends on the situations i guess. I mean if a girl gets rapped i think its horrible to make her keep the baby because that would remind her of the awful thing every times she sees the child, also child could be born with many diseases and all, also I don't think mother or not a mom will never be truly love a rape child, however if a child is from ones own mistake or something then taking that childes live away is also horrible.

Answer 6

Abortion is the killing of an "innocent" human even before they have had the chance to come to maturity and lead, we hope, is a fruitful life in the eyes of society. To me this sort of "infanticide" is done just because a woman says to herself, "This will upset my career and my lifestyle". So they kill it when in reality this potential human being has "done no wrong" in the eyes of the law. So in reality, the law (Roe vs. Wade) protects woman who commit murder!
Nations use capital punishment to put people to death for the heinous crimes of killing another human being, as in the decree "thou shalt not kill" in the 10 Commandments. I am all for sending them to the death chamber in "payment for their retributions against society".

This is all matter of conjecture, opinion and standing laws that will always be probed, looked at, scrutinized as well as used as a political tool for those seeking points in the arena of pro abortion or anit-abortion foes as well as the pro death and those against capital punishment.

Answer 7

Not exactly. The difference is that an unborn baby is given life but not allowed to live it. It is completely innocent. A person who is killed due to capital punishment is killed because they made the decision to do something wrong.

Answer 8

They are completely different, with an abortion you are killing an innocent person, a person that hasn't even got the opportunity to see the light of day. With capital punishment you are killing a person who intentionally hurt another being, and that person knows exactly what he/she was doing.

Answer 9

Capital punishment helps society. Abortion helps individuals.

Answer 10

Just to answer this question, I will play devils advocate. In the case of murder, the criminal in question has a mind of his/her own and chose to kill another human being. Now in the case of abortion the child being terminated did not have the oppurtunity to make ANY decisions, so i guess one might ask what did they did to deserve the death sentence. So to annswer your question it is not just ending the life that is in question, it is acutally WHY end it!!! But just for your fyi i am pro whatever.