There is punishment other than God's?

Today Wonkette brings to us via Jezebel the fascinating How Much Time Should Women Spend In Prison for Having Abortion? It seems that a film maker approached a group of abortion protestors in Libertyville and asked them that question.

Being a heavy pro-choicer myself, seeing these protestors clam up at a simple question made me giggle with glee. How silly the woman looks saying that having an illegal abortion has enough punishment from God. But, really, demanding that something be made illegal, you should really have an appropriate consequence for breaking the law in mind.

I wonder what it would be like to ask the abortion protestors on St. Charles in front of the unmarked building near Louisiana that very same question? Would their responses be similar? Would they have law-breakers executed? I guess it all depends on the background in which you're coming from and why you've formed such an opinion.

The original source of this discussion stems from Anne Quindlen's article in Newsweek with the same title. Many quotables within the article, but the ending sticks out:

Nearly 20 years ago, in a presidential debate, George Bush the elder was asked this very question, whether in making abortion illegal he would punish the woman who had one. "I haven't sorted out the penalties," he said lamely. Neither, it turns out, has anyone else. But there are only two logical choices: hold women accountable for a criminal act by sending them to prison, or refuse to criminalize the act in the first place. If you can't countenance the first, you have to accept the second. You can't have it both ways.

Don't victimize women.

View a shortened version at Jezebel, or the entire footage on YouTube.

Beware: abortions cause drug use and alcoholism!

Without fail this conservative administration keeps trying to shove its ideology down others' throats without any scientific basis

Think Progress reports that a government website 4parents.gov has changed the literature from some women feeling relieved or happy after an abortion to increasing their drug and alcohol use after an abortion. Obviously there is no right or wrong way for a woman to feel after an abortion, nor is there a general way to feel especially since her hormones are all outta wack, but what the hell.

It's just like the eternity it took for the FDA to approve emergency contraception for over the counter use. There was NOTHING, keeping them from it, everything in science and medicine said it was good to go, but the FDA kept stalling simply because the administration didn't agree with countless numbers of tests and experiments. The FDA is

...responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices... and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health.

A former Surgeon General in the Bush administration backs it up:

Yesterday, Richard Carmona told Congress that when he served as Bush’s Surgeon General, he was often muzzled and censored from speaking out on key issues, such as stem cell research and women’s issues. “Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological, or political agenda is ignored, marginalized, or simply buried,” said Carmona.

Don't speak up on the women! They are to be seen, not heard, and not even heard of!