Should Women Who Get Abortions be Prosecuted?

Veronica Neffinger

Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…
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Updated Sep 25, 2017

While all pro-life advocates may agree that it is important to protect the lives of unborn children, they sometimes disagree on whether or not the woman who is getting the abortion should be prosecuted.

Even President Trump got in the middle of this controversy when, during his campaign, he said that women who get abortions should be punished. After receiving criticism, he retracted that statement, however.

In an article for RedState.com, Kimberly Ross argues that, in truth, the woman is also a victim of abortion, and that to prosecute women who get abortions is actually to undercut the pro-life message.

Ross cites conservative commentator and podcast host Ben Shapiro on this issue. Recently, Shapiro made a controversial appearance to deliver a speech at UC-Berkeley. In the Q&A section at the end of the speech, Shapiro was asked whether or not he believes a woman who gets an abortion should be punished.

“No. I think that abortionists should be put on trial,” he responded, and then elaborated:

“I don’t think that women should be put on trial for a couple of different reasons. So the first reason is because I don’t think that it is effective in deterring abortion to put women on trial for the killing of the unborn. The second reason is because I think that we in our society have unfortunately gotten to such a point that an entire generation has been indoctrinated to believe...that a baby is a polyp and so when they remove it, I’m not sure there’s the necessary mens rea, the criminal intent necessary for prosecution.”

Instead, Shapiro went on to say that the abortion industry and abortion doctors are the real enemies on this issue:

“The typical pro life position here is that the woman is a victim of abortion nearly as much as the baby is. There is an entire abortion industry that is geared toward teaching women that babies are not babies and that getting a baby aborted is in fact a betterment of their life. So no, I am not in favor of prosecuting women for abortions.”

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Ross and Shapiro?

Publication date: September 25, 2017