p/c Statesman Journal.
My answer is “No” to the death penalty for those who have committed abortion, but the abolitionists make a logical argument.
Before I get to my answer, let me say I am no softie on abortion. I still try to pray and counsel at the abortion center every other week. I have been arrested for peaceful prayer inside abortion centers on the East Coast twice. But I am not as extreme as the “abolitionists” and a few Catholics who say that women who have had abortions should receive the Death Penalty.
Do people really say such things? Yes. Although NPR is rarely to be trusted, they quoted a pro-life woman who stated this on that topic: “God values human life so highly that when one human chooses to murder another innocent human, they forfeit their own life. So I do support the death penalty for people who have had due process and been convicted of murder.”
She was quoted specifically on abortion in that article.
Now, why would she say that? It’s simple: Abortion is the murder of an innocent person. The Bible says those who kill the innocent should receive the death penalty. That’s logical. I have no argument up to this point.
Today, more evangelicals understand the Biblical principle of the death penalty than Catholics. Why is that? It’s because the Church buildings that used to be run by Catholics are now run by modernist heretics who oppose the death penalty in every case. But it was not always the case. In fact, here is an article that shows that not only the Bible, but the Magisterium and all pre-Vatican II Popes said the state has the right to execute those who have committed capital crimes.
I know there are exceptions to this, but most abortions have several perpetrators to the crime: The father, the mother, nurses, physicians and other workers at the abortion center are all criminals. But the two people in this article I want to focus on mainly is the parents. When both the father and the mother come to the same decision on abortion, obviously both should receive the same punishment (if we are going to hold to legal punishments following the killing of an unborn child.)
But here is where this gets more complex than cold-cut justice: As I have proven here, every oral contraceptive pill is not only a contraceptive, but also an abortifacient. I would encourage you to read my whole article, but here’s the key facts:
By an extremely conservative estimate, 1B (billion, as in 9 zeros) women are on the Pill (or other form of HBC like “the Patch”… It is probably closer to 2B, but we’ll assume 1B as a conservative estimate.) Of these 1B women on the Pill, probably each one of them experiences at least once a year a breakthrough ovulation during times of intercourse leading to a fertilized egg, which is an embryo that is never implanted for reasons explained in the first half of this blog post (quoting even secular medical sources.)
I suspect this happens much more than once a year for each child-bearing woman on the Pill across the globe, but let’s assume it only happens once a year per woman. And, again, let’s assume only 1B women in the world are on the Pill. (These are the most conservative estimates possible on both figures so I don’t get accused of exaggerating.) Now do the math of both above estimates: This means there globally one billion abortions a year due to the Pill. That means the entire population of North America and South America combined are eradicated every year by the Pill. By the above conservative estimate, we can assume the Pill kills 1,000,000,000 people a year. That is one eighth of the world’s population.
Does this include Catholics? Of course, for a recent study reveals that 84% of “American Catholics” say the Catholic Church should allow birth control. Obviously, this means that most married couples attending the Novus Ordo are on the Oral Contraceptive Pill (or patch, or vasectomy or some form of contraception.)
But most of them are on the pill, meaning 80% of “American Catholic” couples (even those attending the Novus Ordo) are killing one of their own children every year, if not every year. The reason I say “the Novus Ordo” is because this study shows that 2% of Catholics who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) believe in or use contraception. Compare that to the attendants of the new Mass where 89% of the adults use contraception. Not my study—so don’t shoot the messenger. (And yes, religion is always “self-selective,” so that argument doesn’t work.)
If we were to use cold-cut justice without mercy, then the following premises (proven by links above) would lead to the final necessary conclusion:
1. Abortion is killing an innocent person.
2. Those who kill innocent people should get the death penalty according to traditional Catholic doctrine.
3. The Oral Contraceptive is an abortifacient as well as a contraceptive pill, meaning those on it are killing their own children.
4. In a consensual relationship, it normally requires a man and a woman to agree to her going on “the Pill.”
5. Over 80% of those “Catholic couples” attending the Novus Ordo are on the Oral Contraceptive.
6. Therefore, over 80% of adult American Catholics today should receive the death penalty for killing their own children via the Oral Contraceptive according to traditional Catholic teaching.
But we are called to mercy, not just justice. So, I am not in favor of the final conclusion.
And there’s a second reason I am against it. There’s a line in jurisprudence that reads: Lex non cogit ad impossibilia. It is a legal maxim in Latin that translates to the English as: “The law does not compel the impossible to be done.” Obviously, executing 80% of the American population of adults who have used contraception (with or without repentance) would not be feasible, even if one were to say justice comes before mercy in such grinding and bloody conclusions.
The only possible rebuttal to my conclusion would be the following false-statement: “Surgical abortions are more evil than chemical abortions.” But this can’t possibly be true. That would be like saying “Killing big babies is more evil than killing small babies.” You see, as long as you admit that the Oral Contraceptive is as bad as surgical abortion, you can’t apply the death penalty to perpetrators to the latter unless you’re going to apply it to perpetrators to the former.
And I don’t know any Protestant abortion abolitionist or tough-guy Catholic who would say that every single couple who has used an abortifacient-based contraceptive pill (even those who repented) should be executed by the state. If such abolitionists were to hold that, they would have to kill 80% of the American adult population, including those who claim to be Christians.
Recently, I wrote an article against the heresy of consequentialism. I wrote against the moral theology that states we must look at outcome to determine our conclusion. I am still against saying the end does not justify the means. I still hold to this, even in this article.
How can this be? Aren’t I arguing for the conclusion determining the premises? No, for this again is where the line from jurisprudence comes in: Lex non cogit ad impossibilia, or “the law does not compel the impossible to be done.” So, even if you want to throw out mercy on poor couples who have repented for both chemical or surgical abortions (a very bad idea, I believe) you still have to treat them both the same.
You see, it’s impossible for the United States to execute over 100,000,000 adult Americans who have committed either chemical or surgical abortions. Again, the daily oral contraceptive Pill (that most adult American Catholics are on—both married and unmarried couples who attend the NOM) causes chemical abortions if the contraceptive aspect of “the Pill” first fails. The abortifacient aspect of the Pill is found in the pharmacology insert (not just pro-life websites) as I prove in my link above.
Thus, there should be no death penalty for perpetrators of abortion—either surgical or chemical. Equal mercy (or justice) should be shown to both. And both groups should be equally welcomed with mercy in the confessional by priests, provided they are truly sorry for the death of their children. Yes, Jesus Christ can truly forgive these sins.
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