If the law recognizes fetuses as persons, then women who have abortions will be charged with murder and might face the death penalty. Doesn’t that compound the injustice of the desperate situation they are already facing?

Pro-lifers recognize that many women who are driven to abortion are in desperate situations and under considerable pressure. Indeed, it is sometimes most appropriate to consider them to be among the victims of the larger circumstances. These mitigating considerations should be taken into account when determining the severity of punishment—and should certainly preclude the application of the death penalty. There is nothing inconsistent about this. Besides, most pro-lifers would agree that the doctors who perform the abortions are the main perpetrators of the crime, not the scared and exploited women who are pressured into them.