Pat Toomey wants to imprison a lot of people

Pat Toomey, prospective Republican candidate for senator in Pennsylvania, seeks to outlaw abortion in Pennsylvania and toss abortion providers in jail:

Pat Toomey: I think that Roe v. Wade was wrongly defined, wrongly decided and I think states should be free to restrict abortion and I would support legislation in Pennsylvania that would ban abortion and I would suggest that we have penalties for doctors who perform them if we were able to pass that law.

Chris Matthews: Would you put people in jail for perfoming abortions?

Toomey: At some point doctors performing abortions, I think would be subject to that sort of penalty.

As usual, it's someone advocating a complete abortion ban without thinking through the implications and natural consequences. And Toomey offers no answers to the questions that naturally follow if you want to draft a law and impose penalties on abortion providers. I've discussed the anti-choice slippery slope before, but let's do it once more, for larfs:

What's the name and degree of the crime? Is it a type of homicide? Who is the victim? What is the penalty?

How far would accomplice liability reach? Certainly, the women voluntarily terminating their pregnancies are accomplices; a pregnant woman is a sine qua non of an abortion procedure. How about nurses? Surgical assistants? Medical office assistants? The people who drive the women to the clinic or provide them with bus or taxi fare?

Convicted accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the convicted "principal" criminal is. About 1/3 of American women get an abortion by age 45. (You know at least 1 woman who's had an abortion, whether she's told you or not.) Women who get abortions would share accomplice liability for the crime if voluntary pregnancy termination is outlawed in Pennsylvania. So if abortion rates in Pennsylvania reflect the national trend, Toomey would have 1/3 of the women of Pennsylvania put in jail

You simply can't discuss outlawing abortion without addressing accomplice liability and the prospect of imprisoning a very large number of Americans -- in particular, the women who get abortions. It's not enough to let the right-wingers stop at "I would ban abortion and jail the doctors." You have to challenge them further.