Abortion is certainly a sin, but it's also a crime (although it isn't currently defined as one in the United States, but it was for a very long time).
Generally speaking, most countries at most times don't permit private killing in law. This is true of our country, too.
It's a fundamental right not to be unjustly killed. That's why we have laws against private killing. We name all private killings as various forms of unjustified homicide, ranging from crimes like negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter up to premeditated murder.
Even when someone kills in self-defense, that isn't a private killing, as it must be retroactively approved by the state acting on behalf of the society.
The right to take a life resides only in the state, and only to protect the society generally and the innocent specifically or to punish the guilty.
In the United States specifically, no one may the deprived of life except through the sanction of the state, and not without due process of law.
All other killing is a crime.
Abortion is private killing, and it is certainly without due process.
The state has an obligation - constitutionally imposed - to recognize the rights of every person and to protect those rights by equal application of law. Thus, each state is obligated to protect the life of unborn persons. In law.
That's what it says in the 14th amendment.
The federal nexus comes into play where a state refuses to perform its duties under the federal Constitution. The federal government may certainly intervene where state governments contravene the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of entire classes of persons within its borders.
Thus, in any state that refuses to protect in law the lives of unborn persons, the federal government has a constitutionally-mandated requirement to intervene.
Otherwise, the 14th amendment especially, and the 5th amendment, by incorporation, become a nullity.
sitetest
An excellent post.
I don't disagree with your premise. I look at it as a problem without a solution. Abortion will not end, with or without laws. My question was simple. How do you enforce your morality?
Clickit or ticket is also the law of the land (and certainly unconstitutional). The news this morning recites the story of 9 dead children in a crashed van, wearing no belts. The state recently passes a law requiring all children to be belted when driving.
You have said to lock up the practitioners, but do you also incarcerate the women? What penalty would there be? Are the men (or female Drs.) more guilty than the women seeking the killing?
The Constitution guarantees a lot of things, but enforcement is always local. I give you Joe Arpaio as example.
Where we disagree, FRiend, is that abortion will end. Sin will continue, whether it is Constitutionally protected or not!