Quindlen, A. (2007, August 6) How Much Jail Time? Newsweek

Link here

I'm not sure if Ms. Quindlen is nearly as clever as she comes off in this Op Ed piece. As a starting point, she takes a youtube video that asks pro-life protesters what the penalties for abortion should be if it is one day illegal. As these protesters struggle to come up with an answer, if any, the video maker's point is silently proven, that how can something be illegal with no penalty for committing the crime?

I'll give it to the video, it certainly leaves the protesters looking bad. But in terms of earth shattering arguments, the video is nothing more than the beginning of what could be a tit for tat argument with anecdotal one-liners between pro and anti abortion groups. Honestly, I think that the pro-life movement is more interested in abortion clinics closing their doors rather than seeing every woman who gets one suffer through some sort of penalty. But that's for another post; my real issue is with this Newsweek article.

For starters, the title, "How much jail time?" Makes an assumption that the penalty would indeed be jail time. It's something the video doesn't do, simply asking "what should the penalty be?" This error is compounded as it sets the tone for the interviews during the article. The president of Planned Parenthood of greater Iowa, after being lobbed the softball, "what are these crazy pro-lifers thinking with jail time" states, "they never connect the dots." Oh, of course.

Then there are multiple examples of when pro-choicers asked political candidates "how much jail time should women who get abortions serve?" This is like asking presidential candidates, "how many Iraqis would you kill during your four years?"

The article ends citing a debate where George Bush senior was asked the same abortion question, and dodged it lamely. In terms of a closing argument, it really contradicts the rest of the article. It first shows that Republican candidates asked that question can still win elections, despite what the president of Planned Parenthood of greater Iowa suggests. Second, it shows that this question is nothing new. It was asked 20 years ago and has been sporadically since then to no fanfare.

I'll give her this, her arguments regarding the most recent abortion decision are cogent. She makes a very good point that the Supreme Court seems to imply that they are saving women from themselves. I especially like her line about "ignoring or infantilizing women, turning them into "victims" of their own free will." So maybe she should have stuck to writing an article about that instead of digging through the recesses of youtube to find fodder for newsweek.