"If I punch someone in the face, I get charged with battery. If I punch myself in the face, I don't get charged with battery. It's a similar principle. You can do things to your own body that someone else can't necessarily do."
We're not talking about a woman punching herself. We're talking about the contradiction within current law. The law that allows a woman to kill the unborn in her womb while punishing a man who tries to do the same. You can't charge one with murder while saying the other one has a right to kill the same victim, simply because she wants to.
Here's a scenario: A woman schedules an abortion for Wednesday morning. On the way to the clinic she is assaulted by a mugger and the unwanted baby dies as a result of injuries inflicted on it and the mother. The mugger is charged with murder, not assault, even though he had no knowledge of the baby.
Now, if the mugging didn't happen, the mother walks into the clinic and hires a doctor to deliberately go in and kill the unborn child. This is condoned, even though the end result is the same and the intent is deliberate, not accidental as mentioned above. That's a conundrum. The baby has value in one instance, and no value in the next. The difference between the mugger's murder and the mothers abortion is found in her choice to keep or kill the baby. Personhood is a designation left to the mother, but in all other circumstances not related to her choice, the baby is considered a person by the courts, hence the charge of murder placed on the mugger. If it wasn't considered a person, then the charge would be ludicrous.
" And the whole thing about women being too intellectually incapable to understand the issue before them is profoundly condescending. "
This comment wasn't directed to all women, but to the majority of those who are faced with this decision. Many, not all, are in no position to make a life and death decision for another being, especially if it is just for the sake of convenience, which is the vast majority of abortions. In essence, the person who has no clue what is living inside them, should not be given the authority to determine if it is a person or not. My niece had two abortions when she was a teenager based on her belief that the only thing inside her was a clump of cells. She later found out that she ended the heartbeat of her two babies, a guilt she can't shake to this day. A better education would've prevented that sadness, but PP didn't care about that.