In defense of Trump's (original) abortion statement

[Final-Fan]

KingofTrolls said:

Final-Fan said:

3.  If you go back and read my post, you'll find that you are basically correct.  Abortions should not be performed to kill a person, but in the earlier part of the pregnancy (half, two thirds, we could argue about the breakpoint but that's not relevant to this discussion), my belief is that the fetus is not actually a person (no human mind) and therefore we are not ethically bound to protect it; therefore abortions are not horrible mass murder.  In the later part of the pregnancy it would be wrong to do the same thing because a human mind has developed and it would be wrong to kill that person. 

Have to go to work, i will post later.

I see what you bolded.  Now I am completely willing to have a discussion about the development of fetuses and when personhood might be said to begin if not at conception—I have done so in the past—but I must insist that it not derail this thread.  It's not relevant to the discussion at hand.  Let me explain why. 

This thread is not actually dedicated to exploring the question of whether a human fetus is always a person from conception, and consequently whether abortion is always wrong.  I am sorry if the poll question and answer options misled you in that regard.  While a worthy topic for discussion, this thread is not that thread and if you want such a thread I invite you to begin a new one and post here with a link to that thread. 

This thread is dedicated to exploring the question of whether, should the law in the United States change such that abortion is illegal (due presumably to the judgment that a human fetus is always a person), a woman who goes to an abortionist to have an abortion should be punished along with the abortionist for the crime of committing abortion.  It seems to me that pretty clearly the answer would have to be yes, and I suspect you would agree with that determination.  Is that so?