What should be the punishment for the women who perform abortions in the 8th or 9th month? Remember: Not the doctors but the mother performing the abortion.
Well depends on the circumstances.
Let's look at it logically shall we and with facts in our hands, not just stupid chatter.
How your baby's growing - BabyCentre
So as I said in all comments related to abortion rights and so on, the logical way to go about it is not to chain women to a pregnancy they don't want. What does that mean?
Well the brain starts to form at around the 10 week mark if I'm not mistaken. But let's say that. So that's 2months and a half in.
You can have an ultrasound that sees if your baby suffers from birth defects like down syndrome at around 13 weeks, which is 3 months and 1 week in.
At 18 weeks you can check if the baby is developing properly right and it is the first time blood vessels actually form in the brain. So this is 4 months and 2 weeks in.
And at 21 weeks you can already know if it's a boy or a girl.
And at 23 weeks you can already put Mozart on so that the kid will be smart.
So basically, up until this point, the 24 week mark(6 months), I think that abortion should be legal, no questions asked. If anyone wants to have an abortion, then that's fine.
After 24 weeks it should be done only under special circumstances -> the mothers' life is in danger, she can't handle the pregnancy or the birth. The child is found with pre-natal diseases or defects (yes, you can scan for these earlier but not everyone goes to the doctor at the right time, due to time or financial reasons but nobody should be forced to raise a child that has such issues because it can lead to a whole lot of other problems) etc. But without such special circumstances in play, abortion should be illegal. So you can't go after 24 or 25 weeks, let the lawmakers bicker about it, and just get it done no questions asked. There needs to be a medical consensus and approval that special circumstances are in play.
So to answer your question:
What should the punishment be for a women who has done an abortion that had no extraordinary circumstances in play, so she just did it on the "black market" as it were? Probably a large fine and/or maybe up to 1 year in prison. Chances are if she wanted to get rid of the fetus so much she really wouldn't have been a good mother to begin with and the child would have a miserable life. But if there were extraordinary circumstances in play, no punishment. It's her right.
We need to also start considering quality of life of those who are alive and those who are yet to be born. Now there is a lot to be said on this particular topic but let's leave it at this for now.
EDIT:
If we were to live in a perfect society that had full health insurance and full health coverage on demand, where every woman could go for free and get all medical services regarding her child's development, I'd be down for a 18-20 week abortion law. So you can get an abortion up until 18-20 weeks no questions asked and then, from that period onwards, only in the situation when the mothers' life is in danger.
But we don't. We don't live in a perfect world so yeah... 24 week mark abortion law is the way to go.
Alternatively. If through scientific development there would be a way that all the things like gestation age and hazards to the mother or birth defects, could be identified within the first few weeks after conception, and again, full health coverage and every mother could go and get all the medical services she needs or wants, then I'd be down for a reduction in the abortion law too. So say, if all the things doctors can find just after 3 months, they can now find it within the first 3 months, go for it, abortion law set to the first 3 months. If earlier, than earlier. But if we don't have the technology to anticipate all sort of problems, then the law needs to comply with the current technological advancements.
