For an abortion? 15 years to life in prison.

You recall that video that made the rounds on feminist blogs… the one in which forced-pregnancy activists are stumped when asked, “How much jail time should women get for having an abortion?”
Well, Catholic columnist Matt Abbott has answered the question. He hems and haws a bit about the scores of women who are apparently “coerced” into abortion. But ultimately this paternalistic viewpoint (“women couldn’t possibly be choosing abortions because they think that’s what’s best for them — no, must be a man coercing them!”) doesn’t hold up, and he decides 15 years to life in prison is an appropriate punishment for deciding to end a pregnancy.

…I do believe, in some cases, the abortion-seeking woman is indeed the perpetrator. She knows very well what she’s doing. She’s not coerced by anyone. Perhaps she’s even going against the wishes of her loved ones. This is the woman who should be treated as a criminal – if not a murderer, then an accessory to murder.

What really jumps out at me there is “Perhaps she’s even going against the wishes of her loved ones” — which seems to me a way of saying that, if she’s defying a male figure in her life who doesn’t want her to end the pregnancy, her offense is all the more punishable.
Abbott realizes, of course, that throwing women in jail for 15 years or more for obtaining an abortion isn’t going to be widely popular, and at the end says he knows many fellow “pro-lifers” won’t agree with him. Because portraying a woman who chooses abortion as a victim — coerced, unable to think for herself, and in need of state intervention — is lamentably a much savvier strategy for the forced-pregnancy movement. But props to Abbott, I suppose, for at least answering the question. Finally.