Capital Punishment vs. Pro-choice

In recent events Tookie Williams had his sentence carried out. It caused me to reflect on why society and individuals feel they have the right or the authority to sentence a man or woman to death. Upon deeper thought, I began to compare capital punishment with abortion.

What is the difference, I ask myself? Between: judges sentencing someone to death or a woman deciding to have an abortion. Both the criminal and the child are obviously being punished by negative circumstances. The criminal sentenced for committing a crime, a definitively negative circumstance. The unborn child is sentenced for the negative circumstance itself, be it: a child conceived of violence, a child conceived accidentally, or a child conceived into a situation of despair.

Does the question of sentience make it easier for me to accept taking a life? A criminal sentenced to death more than likely is being punished for an act that they committed consciously. Whereas, an unborn child can’t possibly understand the complexity of the situation in which it was condemned. In fact, every effort is made to ensure that the life of the child is taken before the point of sentience, how are we to define, for certain, at what point and at what level of sentience a being can experience before it is no longer ethical to destroy it? In the case of a criminal it seems to be easier. They do something horrible; hence, we reciprocate by doing something horrible to them. This sounds more like vigilante or vengeful action than social justice. Although, I would interject with the strong belief that no person should be allowed to decide if another must die. Therein lies the calamity of my contradiction.

I believe that a woman should have the choice because I somehow ignore the idea that what’s inside her should / would / will become a person. In thinking that a woman should have a choice I don’t separate her from the thought of the child, which, somehow implies ownership. It almost makes it easier to dismiss the rights of something that is human but not yet in its full form. Perhaps, it is a racist thought pattern – to believe that a human that does not match your shape or form has less of an entitlement to life than you do. But then I think of the woman who has to carry a child conceived of violence. How could I expect that woman to carry such a conception to term? Would you be able to tell your daughter to suck it up and carry the child of her predator because you don’t believe in abortion? Even better would you be able to accept the continued existence of the person who caused such hardship on your daughter?

I don’t claim to know the correct answers, but these are the questions and situations that come into my mind when I compare the two ideas. Am I contradicting myself? Yes, I am. No one should have the right to decide if someone else should die. Yet, I still believe a woman should have the choice, even in the realization of this contradiction.