The difference between sin and crime - from DailyKos

[Aliantha]

I suppose in the minds of these people they just want to stop women from choosing their own fate and that's why they've never thought about what should happen if they do have illegal abortions.

Maybe they really are loving people who don't want to judge.

Maybe they're just thoughtless and don't see anything much past the end of their own nose.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I suppose in the minds of these people they just want to stop women from choosing their own fate

The notion is not about the women choosing their own fate, but that of the life they carry.

The one committing the crime, were abortion illegal, is the one (doctor, nurse, or technician) doing the procedure.

The woman in the question becomes analogous to that of a drug user or a prostitute's john, the user rather than vendor of the illegal services. Whether a penalty should be established would be determined by the courts. As I recall, there was no penalty to the woman (other than social scandal if it became known that she had aborted a child) pre-Roe.