Questions of Conscience

'Molly Saves the Day' is creating quite a buzz lately. Molly's is a blog that describes itself as one dedicated to discussing 'Feminist issues, liberal talk, and news analysis by former journalist turned phone sex operator.' Well written and provocative, it has generated some controversy with discussions relating to the abortion debate in this country. In response to the ill-advised actions of South Dakota to ban nearly all abortions, Molly's has published a post titled 'For the Women of South Dakota' that describes how to self abort a pregnancy. The site has also generated some questions for the self proclaimed 'Pro-Life', 'Abortion is Murder' crowd that force some introspection. Spouting slogans is one thing but having to grapple with the real consequences of one's actions or 'beliefs' is something vastly different. A truly honest, thoughtful appraisal of the 'murder' position, along with reasoned answers would reveal that most vociferous abortion ban advocates are utilizing flawed logic. Molly has some questions for the pro-life crowd. If abortion is 'murder', then:

1) Should women who abort get life sentences in prison and/or the death penalty?
2) If a woman's husband knows she is aborting, should he be charged as an accessory to murder?
3) How about her friends who know?
4) Should abortion doctors receive life sentences in prison and/or the death penalty?
5) If a woman smokes during her pregnancy and the fetus dies as a result, should she be charged with murder?
6) If her husband knew she was a smoker and could kill the fetus, is he criminally negligent?
7) If a woman eats unhealthily during pregnancy and the fetus dies, should she be charged with negligent homicide?
8) If the husband knew, should he, too, be charged?
9) If a woman has a serious medical condition that would almost always lead to the death of a fetus, but gets pregnant anyway, should she be criminally liable if the fetus dies?
10) If her husband knew of this condition, should he, too, be criminally liable?
11) If a company manufactures a product which lights a fire in a fertility clinic, destroying 1500 frozen embryos, should they be liable for mass murder?
12) If an electric company has a power failure which cuts power to a fertility clinic, thawing embryos and rendering them unusable, should they be liable for mass murder?
13) If a pregnant woman reports to her doctor that she is smoking during her pregnancy, should her doctor be mandated to report it to the appropriate agency for dealing with child abuse?
14) If a woman has cancer and her chemotherapy kills a fetus, should she be given a life sentence and/or sentenced to die?
15) If her doctor was aware of her pregnancy, should he be charged as an accessory to murder?
16) Should children who are disabled be allowed to sue a parent for any negligent conduct during pregnancy that may have caused their disability -- for instance, smoking or consuming alcoholic beverages?
17) Should a person with 15 frozen embryos in storage be required to carry each embryo as soon as possible?
18) If I had 15 embryos in storage, should I be able to claim them as dependents on my tax paperwork?
19) If a government agency determined that a woman was being neglectful to her fetus during her pregnancy, should she be forced by the Department of Children and Families to care for the child and/or have it forcefully removed?
20) Should one in three American women be imprisoned or sentenced to death?

How many 'YES' answers? How many NO's? Do the true believers from the 'Abortion is Murder' clan have to answer every question in the affirmative? Can that clan morally answer any of the questions with a NO? Does any NO answer mean that the fetus does not have the same rights as a person from the moment of conception? Seems the answer to that question is yes.
Posted on The Human Stain