Does the pro-life movement have a leg to stand on when claiming that Trump’s idea to punish women who get illegal abortions goes against everything they stand for? By now we’ve all heard about Trump’s statement in favor of punishing women who have illegal abortions, and his subsequent change of heart in response to widespread consternation. It turns out that virtually no one supports this idea. Obviously pro-choice advocates who believe that abortion is a human right are opposed to punishing women who seek abortions. The more nuanced case is that of the pro-life advocates, who see women receiving abortions as victims of the crime. This group says we should punish doctors, and help women on the path towards recovery.

But does this actually hold with the case laid out by pro-life groups for why abortion should be illegal? The basic tenants of anti-abortionism rely on the idea that life starts at conception, so abortion is murder. Anti-abortion lawyers argue that the state has an interest in protecting the life of the fetus because it is a human life. By that logic, if a woman chooses to get an abortion, she is at least an accomplice to the murder performed by the doctor. She willingly takes critical steps in making it happen.

Even further, to take the stance that women are the victims of abortion is to see women as the objects of their own reproductive choices, rather than the subjects. It ignores the agency of women seeking and receiving abortions.

I want to be clear here: I am not making the case that abortion should be illegal, or that abortion is murder. I’m just trying to follow the logical progression that starts with those presumptions, because I don’t think it works to argue that women aren’t culpable in the murder if you argue that it is a murder. I believe that this reaction to Trump’s statement about punishing women reveals fundamental fallacies in the anti-abortion movement.

Of course, there is more to this conversation than whether or not life starts at conception. The ethical conundrum of abortion needs to take into account the life, health, and rights of the mother, and the conservative stance on the issue struggles to do so. In taking a moment to give lip service to the rights of women seeking abortion the pro-life movement revealed this gap in their case. Unfortunately, punishing women for getting illegal abortions seems to fall right in line with what the anti-abortion movement argues.

**By the way, this is an issue worth following these days, as the sharply divided 8-person Supreme Court is hearing a major abortion case.