Joseph M. Scheidler, longtime pro-life activist, who is quoted in the Newsweek column, e-mails me:

Anna Quindlen is a good writer, but in her “How Much Jail Time for Women
Who Have Abortions?” ( August 6 Newsweek ) she lets her prejudice take
control of her reason. For starters, we were not picketing an abortion
clinic in Libertyville, IL, as she says. There are no abortion mills in
Libertyville. We were conducting a “Face the Truth” tour at a public
crossroads. They’re not the same. While our Truth Team clearly
distinguishes beteen professionals in charge ( yellow shirts ) and
volunteers ( red shirts ), the interviewer spoke only with red shirts,
hoping to catch them off guard. His thesis: if you don’t punish women who
have abortions, abortion isn’t a crime. It reminds me of the argument that
if you don’t have funerals for fetuses, nobody was killed. It’s the fallacy
of “… post hoc, ergo propter hoc.” Though his video and Quindlen’s column
roundly mock our volunteers’ answers, they were about as good as any
pro-lifer could give, since we are not interested in punishing women, and
never have been. We want to stop the killing of their babies and the
women’s exploitation by abortion. The woman is also the victim. The
punishment will be meted out to the abortionists who pervert their oath “to
do no harm.” The question really is, “How much jail time for the
abortionist?” We hope a lot. That is the way it has always been in this
country. That the way it will most likely be when abortion is once more
illegal. Joseph M. Scheidler, Director, Pro-Life Action League, Chicago,
IL.