Less choice coming for New York City

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by joeydb

What was the penalty in 1972 and prior?

Abortion is premeditated, so it would depend on the state law for murder regarding that modus opperandi. And if premeditated, there would also be sentence for the accomplices in the crime.

I'm asking you what you think is an appropriate punishment for women who obtain abortions. If you were in the State legislature, what would you propose for these women?

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

I'm asking you what you think is an appropriate punishment for women who obtain abortions. If you were in the State legislature, what would you propose for these women?

I'm not an attorney, so if I was a PART of the legislature, I would research the law on what fits if abortion loses its current exception status with regard to murder.

As a committee in the legislature, we'd have to come up with a law that fits in terms of sentencing, deterrence, and prevention of the illegal activity in the first place. That vote wouldn't be taken overnight, and I'm not about to pen that new law here either.

Logic says that it is premeditated because it requires hiring a professional to do it.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by joeydb

I'm not an attorney, so if I was a PART of the legislature, I would research the law on what fits if abortion loses its current exception status with regard to murder.

As a committee in the legislature, we'd have to come up with a law that fits in terms of sentencing, deterrence, and prevention of the illegal activity in the first place. That vote wouldn't be taken overnight, and I'm not about to pen that new law here either.

Logic says that it is premeditated because it requires hiring a professional to do it.

All I'm doing is asking your opinion. What do you think is an appropriate punishment? You must have a ballpark idea, seeing as how you are so clear that you think it's murder. So, what IN YOUR OPINION is an appropriate sentence for a woman who obtains an abortion?

[joeydb]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

All I'm doing is asking your opinion. What do you think is an appropriate punishment? You must have a ballpark idea, seeing as how you are so clear that you think it's murder. So, what IN YOUR OPINION is an appropriate sentence for a woman who obtains an abortion?

Well, you'd have to find something to compare it to. So, in a typical abortion scenario - where the fetus is dismembered and flushed out, or sucked out by vaccuum and ground up -either way, this is a murder with dismemberment of the body. That's a violent act. It's also premeditated.

Compare it to the same crime if the victim was an adult - mafia style hitman, hired by someone who wants the victim dead. The hitman did the chopping up of the body and disposal. He was also paid. But the crime would not have occurred had he not been hired by the person who wanted the murder to happen.

The answer to your question depends on the relationship of both accused parties to the crime. Do we give the hiring person the same sentence as the hitman? Is the hirer an accomplice, but the hitman the prime perpetrator?

My answer would lie along those lines - the sentence must be equivalent to what is done in other similar murders - not more harsh, but not lighter in sentence either.