Religion, Rights, Abortion, Capital Punishment

I think it is sadly funny how so many people confuse their beliefs with the purpose of the law. The law exists for only one reason: to protect the individual from crime by other individuals, groups or government.

Many people regard legal abortion and/or capital punishment as state sanctioned murder. This viewpoint can be supported by religious or non-religious moral beliefs. So, here is the problem: Some people do not share those religious or moral beliefs.

So, given the Constitution, How do we resolve this? Everyone has the same rights, and no one can force another to accept a moral code. There is an old maxim that the best government is the least government. A corollary would be that the best law is the simplest that proscribes the intended behavior without resorting to exceptions and loopholes.

There are people that say abortion is wrong except in the cases of rape or incest. There are also people that say that certain capital crimes should be exempt from the death penalty.

Let me be blunt. If something is wrong in any case, it is wrong in all cases. If there exists a situation where the act is not wrong then it can never be considered wrong. We all have the same rights and duties. One person cannot commit an act that is considered a crime unless all persons committing the same act are criminals. Discrimination is not allowed. The only way to operate outside these black and white boundaries is to introduce a gray area where moral or religious judgments supersede the Constitution's guarantee of equal rights under the law.

I cannot say if abortion is moral. On the one hand, from a religious viewpoint, I can be sure that I won't go to hell because someone had an abortion. On the other, I cannot say that my lack of complicity absolves me from the moral implications based on my belief that all life is precious. I simply cannot see that my morality, or yours, can be the basis for a law regarding abortion. It is an awful dilemma.

I can say that if we do have laws regarding abortion, then they need to be clear and unambiguous, and apply to ALL pregnancies regardless of cause. No fetus has more or less rights than any other.

The same goes for capital punishment. If the crime of first degree murder deserves capital punishment in any case, then it should apply in all cases, otherwise no murderer should be executed. Else, the person being executed has NOT received equal protection under the law. Note that there are homicides that are not first degree murder and we have the ability to prosecute persons for less than "murder one."

Just my $.02 worth.