For one of my MA in Bioethics classes, I had to listen to the Hearings Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Criminal Justice of the Committee of the Judiciary House of Representatives on H.R. 1797 “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” that occurred on May 23, 2013.

One person who opposes the bill, Mr. Conyers of Michigan, said: “Some women, unfortunately, must face the emotionally devastating decisions in the course of their pregnancies that require them to consider abortion as a health option.” So let’s see if I understand this correctly, in the case of abortion, mental distress is an acceptable reason for committing murder, but outside of abortion, mental illness is not an acceptable reason and you can go to prison for it (see the case of Floyd Corkins, convicted of planning and attempting a mass killing at the headquarters of the Family Research Council).

Of course, I believe what Corkins planned was wrong and there’s no one arguing that what he did was acceptable. But then, why isn’t abortion wrong as well?

Similarly, I was driving to work the other day and I had a green light as I approached an intersection. A pedestrian nearly walked in front of my car, too close for me to stop. Fortunately, her companion stopped her before it was too late and only then did I realize that she was pregnant. Had I struck the woman and killed her and her baby, I most likely would have been arrested on two manslaughter charges. Yet had this woman gone to an abortion clinic and the doctor aborted her baby, no one would have blinked an eye.

Maybe it’s just me, but…doesn’t there seem to be a double standard when it comes to abortion? Why would something that is roundly abhorred be totally acceptable just because it’s related to the so-called woman’s right to choose? Why would something that is considered wrong (killing a woman and her unborn child) be okay just because the mother decided that she wanted to get an abortion? It’s time to stop this double standard and end legalized abortion in this nation.