How can you support abortion, but be against euthanasia and death penalty?

Question

euthanasia - The act or practice of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal illness or an incurable condition, as by lethal injection or the suspension of extraordinary medical treatment.

from American Heritage dictionary

Answer 1

These are three distinct issues.  By grouping them together, you are unfairly oversimplifying all three.

There is no inherent contradiction in being pro-life and pro-capital punishment, OR vice-versa. The abortion issue generally comes down to where you believe that life begins. Pro-lifers think life begins at conception (and therefore abortion is murder), whereas pro-choicers believe life begins at birth. Both sides will dazzle you with scientific studies and supposed evidence to support their case, but there simply is no way to prove either side - it boils down to what you BELIEVE.

The death penalty is a completely unrelated issue.  I supported capital punishment for a long time, but the more I learned about it, the more I came to oppose it.  In the end, several factors changed my mind:

1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes the legal system gets it wrong. In the last 30 years in the U.S., over 100 people have been released from death row because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. These are ALL people who were found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most cases. No matter how rare it is, the government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most people to oppose it. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of higher pre-trial expenses, longer trials, jury sequestration, extra expenses associated with prosecuting a DP case, and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.

3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty jurisdictions. This may seem counterintuitive, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). Personally, I think it has to do with the hypocrisy of taking a stand against murder…by killing people. The government fosters a culture of violence by saying, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.”  Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (the architect of the 9/11 attacks) would love nothing better than to be put to death.  In his words, "I have been looking to be a martyr [for a] long time."

5. Most governments are supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible.  For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus praises mercy (Matthew 5:7) and rejects “an eye for an eye” (Matthew 5:38-39).  James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice.  Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to).  In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 2

Because many people think that abortion is a moral issue and there is no defined difference between a baby and a fetus. If a pregnant woman gets an abortion in the first few months of her pregnancy, some people think that's ok because you aren't killing anything. Had you taken the fetus out at that point it wouldn't survive and grow. therefore it has become more of a moral argument as to whether or not you're killing something that isn't alive in the first place.  

Answer 3

I'd be happy to pay for them to rot.. I do actually, how long do they sit on death row? unless they are a public example like Mcveigh.-- To answer the death penalty question.

As for Euthanasia.. That is ones choice.

Ah, and as for abortion, you have no right to fight abortion unless you adopt children. I agree with it as a type of birth control, sorry, I don't care. There are so many cases of radical orphans in America, yet we never hear about them. Hmmmmm... It's come to the point that America compensates sexually abused orphans.

Answer 4

regardless of my position on the matter, you are mixing apples and oranges.

abortion applies to human beings who have not yet been born, and thus in our common law legal traditions dating back at least 800 years, have no standing.

the other two involve people who have been born, and so do have standing under our laws.

you may also be confusing religious "laws" which only apply to those who are members of that religion, and are voluntary at that, with the legal system of our strictly secular (no-religious) government.

yes, there are multiple sets of regulations we call "laws", but don't confuse the ones related to government sanctioned justice with the ones describing aspects of this religion or that.

Only the secular ones matter for your question, and as I explained, you are comparing apples and oranges, so your question is fallacious.

Answer 5

Your issue is that you can't see the ramifications of ending a LIVING persons life with that of termination of a pregnancy, which is not ending a living, breathing human being's life! A potential one maybe, but so is every zygote produced by a woman during her lifetime!

In this country there is a passive ,unspoken euthenasia practiced on those who are near death. They are generally overmedicated with morphine! They are generally days from dying and the government isn't deciding (or could) who lives and who dies!

How can you be anti-abortion but put people to death (some even children when their act was committed) and kill 60,000 innocent Iraqis who had nothing to do with 9/11 or terrorists? I bet you are pro Euthanasia as well!

I don't know a person who is a pastor, or even the pope himself, who are God! Heck, they haven't even met him yet!

If you can't see the difference, go check out a medical dictionary!

Answer 6

I can support a woman's right to choose based on the quality of life awaiting the child if it is born. Suppose the impregnation was caused by a violent rape by a criminal who had AIDS.

I do support euthanasia, also as a right to choose. Why should people be forced to live with a debilitating disease and pain when they would choose to end their suffering?

I believe the death penalty should only be applied in those cases where there is cold, hard evidence with more than one eyewitness to the crime. Far too many people have been convicted wrongfully. In those cases, there should be no death penalty available.