I think this is horrible since women should have the right to choice. I do not believe that the government should have the right to take a way a womens choice.

I have this cynical suspicion that this is exactly what anti-choice activists want done to women who make choices about their own bodies.

This is horrific. I want to know the 21 states that would criminalize women if Roe v. Wade was overturned?

Talking with my Mother who is someone who has seen a lot of changes for women - she firmly believes Roe v. Wade would not be overturned. I believe that too.

Exactly ElleStar. I don't like the idea of women going to prison for aborting their pregnancy, but i don't see how an ad like this is going to change the mind of the anti-choicer. if they believe abortion is infanticide, wouldn't they want women who have had them to go to prison for a substantial time?

unless they are the obnoxiously paternalistic anti-choicers who believe women are just victims and it is the evil money-grubbing doctors who need to be punished.

This Commercial seems to imply that criminalizing abortion will overwhelmingly affect brunettes.

Seriously, John McCain is an idiot, worse he's an idiot in a position of power who is using his godawful beliefs to harm people.

McCain did say he would only punish the people providing the abortion, not the women. Of course, McCain wouldn't be the one deciding who gets punished, so those are just empty words to get people to think he actually cares about women.

McCain did say he would only punish the people providing the abortion, not the women.

Hmmm...methinks
McCain = "obnoxiously paternalistic anti-choicer"

This ad is an eerie foreshadowing of what we might see if Palin decides to run in 2012, which looks like she might...

Watch video linked here to see the consequences of such choices.

http://astand4life.blogspot.com/2008/10/if-you-are-pro-life-you-cannot-vote-for.html

There really needs to be transcripts posted for stuff like this.

I transcribed it this time: "John McCain and Sarah Palin want to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protects a woman's right to choose. If that happens, 21 states will immediately move to make abortion a crime. And women will be treated like criminals. What would John McCain do then? Winning Message Action Fund is responsible for the content of this ad."

I think an even more effective ad would be women being led away from their family (particularly children) and friends in handcuffs. As it is, I agree that it probably won't convince forced-birthers to change their minds at all.

This is what an anti-choicer posting inflammatory links on a post discussing the possible imprisonment of born women looks like:

http://www.jasonkolb.com/photos/uncategorized/dunce.jpg

Heads up, Vanessa. We got a troll who wants women dead or in jail. ("Leela")

John McCain doesn't care about the lives of women when he's putting scare quotes around "health of the mother," actively countering liberal feminism by choosing Sarah Palin, fighting women's ability to sue for equal pay, and voting against VAWA.

This tactic ("ready to criminalize women?") is an attempt to appeal to anti-choicers' sense of decency. The problem with this is that they don't care about women, so their sense of decency in this case is non-existent. We're essentially telling them what we're afraid of, and they are running with that by attempting to scare us into compliance. I think what should be stressed is that religion is driving the anti-choicers, and that Freedom of Religion is Amendment #1--I am free to believe what I want to believe, and my belief says first breath outside of mother. Also, I'm not a baby-making machine for that unholy trinity: Pentagon, patriarchy, and pulpit.

@manifestadestiny: great name!

This tactic ("ready to criminalize women?") is an attempt to appeal to anti-choicers' sense of decency. The problem with this is that they don't care about women, so their sense of decency in this case is non-existent.

Plus, it's defended by the claim that they wouldn't put women in jail, just the doctors. Which raises questions regarding conspiracy, but we're not really talking about people who are especially long-sighted thinkers.

We're essentially telling them what we're afraid of, and they are running with that by attempting to scare us into compliance. I think what should be stressed is that religion is driving the anti-choicers, and that Freedom of Religion is Amendment #1--I am free to believe what I want to believe, and my belief says first breath outside of mother. Also, I'm not a baby-making machine for that unholy trinity: Pentagon, patriarchy, and pulpit.

Problem there is that stressing this doesn't help - they'll readily acknowledge that you don't believe what they do... and at the same time make the claim that this is really a "Christian" nation and the first amendment was about the freedom to choose what type of Christian you are.
Also, people with beliefs that extreme will never change their minds, and arguing with them is a waste of time. The ones in the middle are more likely to be swayed by pragmatic arguments - legalized abortion reduces death, late term abortions are only ever performed to protect the mother's life, doctors should be deciding what medical procedures to use, not politicians, etc.

Joe, you can think a thought--and sometimes you don't decide what you think--but you can also choose to express that thought or shut up about it. Right? Because it's in your head. Once you decide to let it out of your head, it has repercussions in the world. Your thoughts might disrupt your family or cause you to lose your job or get you or someone you love killed if they are released. You have a choice. And thoughts are things with power in the world. What would your life be like if you were forced to speak every thought you have?

I have been researching this topic of criminizaling women for having abortions for the past several years. I can't find any links at the moment, but I suggest you all search the internet and read about what is being done to women who have abortions in countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador. Abortion is 100% illegal in these countries--NO exceptions--and women who obtain abortions or even ATTEMPT an abortion are convicted and sent to prison for 30 years to life. Women who discover they have an ectopic pregnancy are held against their will in hospitals and denied any kind of care until the doomed embryo ruptures in their Fallopian tubes, often killing the woman in the process. Women who find themselves pregnant and know that a pregnancy will ruin their health or end their lives are basically told, Sorry, it must be God's will that you are to die." Women who have miscarriages are arrested under the suspicion of having had an abortion and an investigation is done to determine whether miscarriage occurred due to natural causes or due to an abortion. A search warrant is issued to search the "scene of the crime" to collect evidence...which means that the woman is forced to undergo a pelvic exam so that her vagina can be searched and examined for evidence. The prisons down there are now overflowing with women serving 30 year sentences for scraping out a few unwanted cells from their uteruses. People, THIS is what will happen to us right here in America if our right to choose is taken away and criminalized!!!

Women will be treated like criminals? Not to play down the serious nature of this possible change in legislation, but please don't freak out from an ad that is supposed to make the sheep freak out. Please be smarter than that. Do you really think that women who have had abortions will be criminalized by the judicial system? Of course not. And as far as the 21 states that will make it illegal...move. Move out of the state that doesn't like your version of birth control. By the way, you don't need to remind me of rape cases or any sob stories, I have heard every one...yes I understand the exceptions where abortion isn't just a birth control method. But then again, you will probably only read about three lines and reply with WHAT ABOUT TEH RAAAAPE CAYSES!