How can the USA be Anti-abortion AND Pro-death penalty?

I love this question, I often ask it myself.. I always get the same response: Abortion is killing the innocent, Death penalty is killing bad people.

But when you consider the argument AGAINST stem cell research (every human life is worth keeping/is valuable) then that also contradicts the Pro death penalty folks...

What about abortion in the case of rape? Certainly those woman are innocent and don't deserve the punishment of carrying a constant reminder of how they were violated.. But no, again abortion is bad.

Constant flow of hypocrisy with the abortion issue

Many people, including pro lifers, support the death penalty because they are afraid that killers would be released into their communities and because they do not have the facts about the death penalty system. Unfortunatey many people who answered your question are unaware of the practical issues surrounding the death penalty. For their benefit, here are answers to questions often asked about the system. The sources are listed below.

BTW, Americans are rethinking the death penalty. As we are learning the facts, we are expressing a preference for life without parole.

What about the risk of executing innocent people?

124 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence.

Doesn't DNA keep new cases like these from happening?

DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides. It is not a guarantee against the execution of innocent people.

Doesn't the death penalty prevent others from committing murder?

No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states that have it than in states that do not.

So, what are the alternatives?

Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

But isn't the death penalty cheaper than keeping criminals in prison?

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, largely because of the legal process. Extra costs include those due to the complicated nature of both the pre trial investigation and of the trials (involving 2 separate stages, mandated by the Supreme Court) in death penalty cases and subsequent appeals. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.

What about the very worst crimes?

The death penalty isn’t reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Doesn't the death penalty help families of murder victims?

Not necessarily. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

So, why don't we speed up the process?

Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

But don’t Americans prefer the death penalty as the most serious punishment?

Not any more. People are rethinking their views, given the facts and the records on innocent people sentenced to death. According to a Gallup Poll, in 2006, 47% of all Americans prefer capital punishment while 48% prefer life without parole. Americans are learning about the system and we are making up our minds based on facts, not eye for an eye sound bites.

Well to be sure, the anti-death penalty argument rages on oddly enough by the PRO abortion crowd. What sense does that make? You cant put a murderer to death but hey, an unborn baby? No problem!

Its all about who has control of the supreme court and when. Remember in this countrys history slavery was legal as well. We as humans have a bad habit of trying to legally assign people as property to other people and it should never be done.

But with a murderer, hey, he made his choice in life. If I ever kill someone unjustly, the law has my full blessing to terminate me. Because that is the wages of sin; death.

America is neither pro-life nor pro-death. It is a huge country where the people are allowed to have their own views so naturally you have some and some which may seem a little odd. It is a democracy, so the current views of the majority will prevail.

Most Americans are Pro Choice. Its the religious wackos that whine about it.

And it IS hypocritical to be Anti Abortion and Pro Death penalty. end of story. And vice versa.

By the way, its not a baby until the umbilical cord is cut...until then its a parasite dependent on the mother's body, thus being a part of HER body. The woman has the right to do whatever she wants to her own body..pregnant or not pregnant.

the death penalty is killing a person that is already here, whether justified or not...

America is Pro Choice and Pro Death Penalty...Get over it people! Keep your religious beliefs to yourself, Abortion is none of your damn business.

Don't like abortion? Than dont have one!!! Simple as that, End of story.

Not everyone in the US is anti abortion. In 2006 100,000 women marched in Washington DC to liberalise abortion laws.

The laws vary from state to state, depending on the leaning of the governor. Texas, for example, is a republican stronghold and near the top for executions.

The first part of your statement makes no sense. The policy in USA is that our law tolerates abortion. Some states were already legalizing abortion in the early 1970s, and then in 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion for all of the rest of the nation. Opinion polls indicate that the public like that policy.

But our nation does have the death penalty (in the federal government and in most state governments). So we are double-death.

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In answer to one of your added comments, no, the authorities are not God. They are just authorities. Who is more authoritative than the authorities?

I'm pro-life and anti-death penalty. But, I can understand and I know exactly why many people are pro-life and pro-death penalty. Because preborn babies are innocent and murderers are guilty.

Every time i read the (montonously predictable) replies to questions like this i thank a non existant deity that i had the amazing good luck not to be born in the nuthouse that is the You Ess of A.

they are anti abortion because they want more people who will break the law so they can be killed. banning abortion would be a small help in keeping the jobs of death row guards and executioners. because you can guarantee out of any group of "innocent foetuses" some in later years will commit murder.