Off Topic: Jail Time for Abortion? YouTube Video

Anna Quindlen's column in the August 6 issue of Newsweek drew my attention to a fantastic little documentary on YouTube.

The documentary was shot in front of an abortion clinic in Libertyville, Illinois, as anti-abortion protesters are setting up for business. The guy behind the camera asks the protesters, who want to criminalize abortion, what the penalty should be for women who go ahead and have abortions anyway, if the procedure becomes illegal.

As Quindlen puts it, "You have rarely seen people look more gobsmacked."

On camera, they wiggle, they squirm, they offer some pretty shaky logic. My favorite is the woman who says there's no need to punish a woman who has an illegal abortion because the crime has already been committed. When the interviewer tries to get her to compare that to murder, with murderers being punished AFTER they commit the crime, she slides off into incoherence.

These anti-abortion protesters clearly haven't thought it through, and it shows.

It's a pretty simple idea: If we (or the government, if you're not feeling included in the republic these days) make something illegal, then the people who go ahead and commit that crime should go to jail, or prison. So how many months or years should a woman who has an abortion spend in prison?

And what about a man who gets a woman pregnant and then pays for an abortion? Shouldn't he be locked up as well?

It's a great piece of video. Watch it for yourself: Libertyville Abortion Demonstration

And don't forget to ask this question of every presidential candidate you come into contact with. If the candidate is against abortion, ask him (or her): How much jail time should a woman who has an abortion serve?

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.