By John Michener

Remember when your mom would yell at you: “Stop that or else!” Or when your dad would bark, “You’re going to get it!” Did you ever wonder, “Or else what? What am I going to get?” No, you had no doubt at all. You knew what they meant. If you did not obey the family rule, you would receive the designated and appropriate punishment. For without the threat of punishment, humans are inclined to go on disobeying. This is a fundamental teaching of scripture and natural law. The topic is elegantly and expertly explored in Crime and Punishment, one of the most influential novels of all time.

According to an Associated Press article dated 14 May 2024, fourteen states have banned abortion. And yet, the article also claims that “total abortion numbers increased even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.” How could the number of abortions have increased if so many states have banned abortion? The answer lies in the crime and punishment partnership. All fourteen states that have legally called abortion a crime have also specifically exempted violators from prosecution. Here are seven examples to prove the point:

1. Mississippi: “Any person, except the pregnant woman, who…performs or attempts to perform or induce an abortion in the State of Mississippi…shall be punished by imprisonment…” MS Code § 41-41-45 (2020)

2. Missouri: “A woman upon whom an abortion is performed or induced in violation of this subsection shall not be prosecuted for a conspiracy to violate the provisions of this subsection.” MO Rev Stat § 188.017 (2023)

3. North Dakota: “It is a class C felony for a person, other than the pregnant female upon whom the abortion was performed, to perform an abortion.” 2023 North Dakota Century Code 12.1-19.1-02

4. Oklahoma: “Oklahoma law does not allow the punishment of pregnant women attempting an abortion, self-induced or otherwise.” Oklahoma Attorney General, 21 November 2023

5. South Dakota: “A female who undergoes an unlawful abortion, as set forth in §22-17-5.1, may not be held criminally liable for the abortion.” SD Codified L § 22-17-5.2 (2023)

6. Texas: “This [abortion] chapter may not be construed to authorize the imposition of criminal, civil, or administrative liability or penalties on a pregnant female on whom an abortion is performed, induced, or attempted.” TX Health & Safety Code § 170A.003 (2023)

7. West Virginia: “This [abortion] section shall not be construed to subject any pregnant female…to a criminal penalty for any violation of this section as a principal, accessory, accomplice, conspirator, or aider and abettor.” WV Code § 61-2-8 (2023)

To be effective, state laws must fit appropriate punishments to their corresponding crimes. If a punishment is too light or non-existent, then people will continue to commit that crime. For example, imagine that your state has no speed limits. As a result the state tallies more crashes and deaths than other states. To address the problem, the legislature passes a state-wide speed limit and puts new signs up along all the state highways. Now imagine that these same politicians, who secretly approve of speeding and want speeding to continue, pass another statute concurrently with the new limit that stipulates: “No law enforcement agent shall issue a traffic citation for violation of a posted speed limit.” The politicians will brag about the shiny new speed limit signs, but they will not mention that no tickets have been, or will be, issued to curb the people’s speeding habits. In this scenario, without the threat of punishment, there is no real speed limit; it is merely a recommendation.

Similarly, pro-life politicians tell us they have banned abortion, but they hide the fact that there is no enforcement. They lie by omission. In fact, as of this writing, not a single pro-life state has prosecuted an individual for committing abortion. That is because state laws exempt all pregnant women from prosecution of any kind. A woman who solicits the means to kill her own preborn child and then does so will face no charge of homicide or manslaughter, no felony, no civil or financial liability, not even a simple misdemeanor; no threat of any penalty whatsoever. In this environment without the threat of punishment, we should expect no change in behavior. There is no real speed limit without tickets.

What has been the result of codifying crimes without punishments? In 2020 the Guttmacher Institute reported that 53% of all abortions were carried out using pharmaceuticals. New numbers recently released by Guttmacher revealed the number of chemical abortions skyrocketed to 63% in 2023. But this new number is misleading because it counts only those drug-induced abortions “in the formal US health care system.” In other words, they simply stopped counting abortion in all fifty states. The 63% does NOT count abortion pills mailed to people in states with abortion bans where such abortions would be considered outside of the “formal” system. Yet the 63% is published right alongside the percentage from 2020 as if it represented the same kind of ratio. As a result, the public is led to believe that chemical abortions increased only ten percent in three years, but the hidden truth is much more alarming.

In a study released on 14 May 2024, a survey conducted for the Society of Family Planning showed that across the country about 8,000 women per month were receiving abortion poisons by mail by the end of 2023 in states where abortion is supposedly banned. This is the first time that a number has been put on self-administered abortions in conservative states where pro-life laws protect women who privately kill their preborn children themselves.

Abortion is rampant across the Union and largely unchecked even in traditionally conservative states. Calling abortion a crime is not enough to establish the right to life and equal protection of the laws. States must also be willing to administer just punishments. The book Overcoming the Dark Side of the Pro-life Movement will help you become more active and more effective at saving lives. We also offer personal training at no cost. Learn more at UnitedforLife.us.

John Michener is the Director of Oklahomans United for Life (OUL). You can contact him at:

john.michener@oku4life.org