Abortion vs Death Penalty, how do you feel?

Question

Are you pro life, or do you believe women should have the choice to terminate a life? Do you believe in punishing people by death, or do you believe it's morally wrong? Do you believe abortion and the death penelty are related issues, and why?

Of course, I have a strong opinion on these topics, like most people. I'm interested on hearing how everyone else feels.

Answer 1

The issues are related ONLY for those who are anti-abortion ON THE GROUNDS THAT ALL LIFE IS SACRED. There are many other reasons to be anti-abortion that would not necessarily conflict with being pro-death penalty. If one truly believes that ALL life is sacred, then it IS, irrespective of anyone's judgement as to the quality of that life. It would be difficult for a person who believes this way to then be pro death penalty.

The difficulty I have is with people who are anti-abortion and pro-death penalty who say that abortion is "killing an innocent child" while someone receiving the death penalty somehow "earned" it by his behavior. Did one ever think that many of those children one would force into existence by no abortions would be unwanted, unloved, and grow up in an environment that would be conducive to producing the very types of behavior that might just result in the death penalty??

Answer 2

My guess is people want one and not the other.

What life is being terminated? Some cells? By that rational washing your hands is a "anti-life" statement. Oh wait, those cells could eventually become a person so they are important. Well this turkey sandwich I am eating right now could be processed by my body and the protein used to produce sperm, which I could then use to impregnate someone. So hands off my turkey sandwich baby killers*.

Quizzically enough I do not support abortion. I understand there are times that it is a necessary (or at the least more desirable then having a flipper baby, babies having babies, or having some rapists bastard child) option, but I would much prefer living in a world where only extreme cases required the actual abortion of a pregnancy- condoms and the morning after pill should be easier to acquire then water to keep the breeders in line.

As long as people live they can change. Revenge is not moral, justified, or even sensible.

Answer 3

Abortion on demand is out. Society should rather spend time and effort and attempt to reduce the need. Children should be taught that unless they are committed in raising the child they must rather abstain.

Abortion on medical (and possibly other serious) reasons however need to be possible.
A friend of my daughter were diagnosed of carrying a baby where the spine did not developed properly. she however decided not to have an abortion. The child was born with the bone marrow exposed. spent a lot of time in the ICU and eventually died before the age of one. The couple are financially ruined and in a bad state of stress.
I think a abortion would have been the better choice.

I grew up in a society where the death penalty were used.
Apart from the slight comfort and closure given to the family of a murdered relative it served as a great deterrent.

The statistics since the abolition of the death penalty rose drastically. The perpetrators seem to realize that they can do whatever they want. We even had cases where the murderer were out on parole and committed more murders and raped some children.

I feel that premeditated murder and rape should be punished by death. The murderer did in any case not consider the life or well being of the victims important.

The handling of courts of abortion and murder should however improve.

Answer 4

Pro-choice, anti death penalty.

Way too many abortions being performed in this country, but I believe that it should be safely available for women who wish to have the procedure done. I'd much prefer my best friend to go to a clinic where she can receive proper care & guidance than getting it done with some dodgy backyard 'doctor'. However, I am not pro-abortion. I don't believe that first trimester abortion is murder as the human embryo is not properly sentient (that is, capable of thinking & feeling) until ~28 weeks.

Anti death penalty because I don't believe that the state should have the right to end someone's life. At the end of the day state executions are about snuffing out someone elses life when they are in their most defenceless state. No matter what type of horrific crime they committed, I just cannot justify the killing of a defenceless person.

Answer 5

Separate issues.
You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Your question is much too important to settle without having answers to these questions.
124 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in states that don’t.

We have a good alternative. Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

Answer 6

You have to be careful of what terms you're using.

If you say that you're "Pro-Life", then I think you should be for life in any way shape or form, including being against the death penalty and being Anti-War. In that sense, they're related.

Life is life.

If you're like the first responder, you should be labeled "Pro-Death Penalty" and "Anti-Abortion".

Personally, I'm Pro-Choice for myriad reasons. I'm Anti-Death Penalty, not because of the human rights argument, but rather because our legal system is imperfect and favors the rich and famous. I agree with O'Reilly's solution...send em to Alaska for a lifetime of hard labor busting rocks.

Answer 7

why can't the Constitution be used as a shield for the victims, instead of a wall for the criminals to hide behind?

the death penalty should be reserved for heinous crimes where the accused is guilty well beyond a reasonable doubt, reserve the death penalty for only 100% guilty people, multiple credible witnesses, physical evidence directly linking the accused.......then and only then limit the appeals and throw the switch within 365 days(but these people also need to have the best possible defense)
if we limit the use of the death penalty, but actually implement it ....it will be a detereent


it's funny how some people are so anti death penalty.......but want the government to step in and pull the plug on someone who is alive on a feeding tube...(who did not commit a crime)

so its ok to save the live of a convicted muderer but not an innocent...?

Answer 8

The short direct answer is yes.....women have the right to abortion and the death penalty should be reinstated.

Don't get the connection between the two separate issues.

Answer 9

i believe it's a woman's choice to have a baby or not..as for thedeath penalty i'm quite often in 2 minds about it..yes some people deserve to die but on the other hand letting thm suffer in prison for the rest of their lives is good,,,but then the taxpayers pay for them..tough topic,
i dont believe thy are relate issues though, the only thing they have in common is life or death..there are too many factors that come into both to compare thm as related issues

Answer 10

I'm pro-life but I'm neutral on the subject of the death penalty.