Someone tell Alabama that pro-life means opposing the death penalty

It’s a difficult question because abortion and capital punishment are different. One victim is innocent and the other criminal, but each directly ends human life — which is why a thorough pro-life movement should oppose both.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. According to Pew Research, 59% of Republicans say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, but 77% favor the death penalty. Clearly, many pro-lifers are not applying their ideology consistently, or there would not be such high support for capital punishment.

Inmates on death row have often committed unthinkable crimes, but it’s essential never to lose sight of the fact that they’re still human beings. In 1997, Michael Brandon Samra, the Alabama man executed last week, helped his friend murder his entire family: the friend’s father, his girlfriend, and her two young daughters. Yet as a grown man facing death 22 years after the murder, his final words were a prayer.

“I would like to thank Jesus for everything he’s done for me,” he said. “I want to thank Jesus for shedding his bloods for my sins. Thank you for your grace, Jesus. Amen.”

An authentic pro-life movement should oppose the killing of this man, rather than letting him live the rest of his life in jail, where he can attempt to redeem himself before his natural death. From an additional moral standpoint, it’s important to note that many executions, including Samra’s, are unnecessarily cruel.

Samra was executed by means of lethal injection, a method that’s both extremely painful and ineffective. A shocking 7% of lethal injections are botched in an excruciating process that makes its legality questionable, as the Eighth Amendment bans the use of cruel and unusual punishment.

Samra’s injection successfully killed him, but the process was brutal. He was injected at 7:09 p.m., marking the start of a horrifying and lengthy procedure. The Montgomery Advertiser detailed the process of his death, writing, “At 7:15 p.m., his chest heaved three times in quick succession. After, his breathing appeared significantly labored, with his head slightly jerking with each breath for the next minute.”

Samra was pronounced dead at 7:33 p.m., a full 24 torturous minutes following his injection.

Capital punishment supporters claim it’s not antithetical to pro-life principles because it lowers crime and creates an overall sense of justice. Neither claim is true.

A study by the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology found that 88% of criminologists say the death penalty is not an effective deterrent of crime. Meanwhile, 160 known individuals were sentenced to death but later exonerated, with an additional 15 executed despite evidence pointing to their innocence.

Where’s the justice in that? Since pro-life individuals rightfully protest the killing of innocent life through abortion, they should find the casualties of these potentially erroneous death penalty cases equally abhorrent.

Christianity also plays a key role in the pro-life movement, as 63% of evangelical Protestants, 47% of Catholics, 45% of Orthodox Christians, and 42% of historically black Protestants believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. Yet, there is even greater support for the death penalty among Christians despite scripture stating that everyone, despite their wrongdoings, is deserving of mercy. The Bible makes this point clear when detailing the conversion of St. Paul from a brutal persecutor of Christians to a key leader in the early church. In today’s society, life in jail at least provides a chance for redemption, while capital punishment rips the sinner’s life away forever.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, rightfully said “all human life is precious” when discussing her state’s recently passed abortion ban. It’s time for the governor, and pro-life Americans in general, to apply that standard to those on death row too.

Patrick Hauf (@PatrickHauf) is a Young Voices contributor and the vice president of LoneConservative.com.