Instead of the whole ‘soul’ thing, lets go with “Women deserve to be punished for having sex,” and that ‘life-begins-at-conception’ is just a rationalization.
Every pro-lifer I’ve ever met has shared two characteristics: they don’t think women who have abortions should go to jail, and they think that women who have abortions are worse off than women who choose to give birth. That doesn’t fit with the pregnancy-as-punishment theory.
(It does however, expose another type of misogyny: they refuse to believe a mature woman in a sound mind could ever choose abortion.)
“don’t think women who have abortions should go to jail”
I’d be open to it personally (though I think prisons have a slew of their own problems) but it makes for lousy arguments if your goal is to slowly shift public opinion. rather than being scrupulously consistent.
Every pro-lifer I’ve ever met has shared two characteristics: they don’t think women who have abortions should go to jail, and they think that women who have abortions are worse off than women who choose to give birth. That doesn’t fit with the pregnancy-as-punishment theory.
(It does however, expose another type of misogyny: they refuse to believe a mature woman in a sound mind could ever choose abortion.)
The first characteristic, even if it doesn’t fit the pregnancy-as-punishment theory terribly well, fits far worse with the abortion-as-murder theory.
“don’t think women who have abortions should go to jail” I’d be open to it personally (though I think prisons have a slew of their own problems) but it makes for lousy arguments if your goal is to slowly shift public opinion. rather than being scrupulously consistent.