A confusing afternoon for pro-life news junkies. If I might point out a few things…
A “ban” on abortion?
Everyone finds him- or herself bound by the fundamental moral law, “do good; avoid evil.”
Doctors and other healthcare workers can and do get confused about how this law applies sometimes. Like when a pregnant woman asks for an abortion. But honest moral reflection leads you to recognize that abortion is certainly an evil prohibited by the fundamental moral law, since it involves killing an innocent person.
The first punishment for breaking the moral law is the pangs of conscience. No punishment devised by man could ever really be worse. We can only escape the punishment of a troubled conscience by 1. repenting and seeking truth and reconciliation, or 2. engaging in acts of self-destruction which serve to deaden conscience.
Civil law cannot really “permit” killing an innocent person, since man does not have the power to render the light of conscience null and void. So, even now, abortion is only “legal” in a limited sense–just like slavery was once “legal,” but never truly so, because no one’s conscience could fully make peace with it.
Criminal punishment for abortion?
Every pregnant woman, just like every human soul, must grapple with her conscience. Some pregnant woman have, by act or omission, precipitated a miscarriage. Conscience will punish such an act or omission, according to the truth of the situation. But of course no civil law could ever touch this realm, since it is altogether private.
“Abortion,” meaning a surgical procedure, however, involves a third party–someone with some kind of technique and expertise.
Again, because it involves killing an innocent person, there actually isn’t any way to make performing an abortion altogether ‘legal.’ It is prohibited by the inner law that governs the conscience of anyone who possesses the technique and expertise to do it.
That performing abortions is ‘legal’ in the Roe v. Wade regime means: the law of the land contributes to the confusion and distortion of many consciences, especially the consciences of healthcare workers who perform or participate in abortions.
I think it’s fair to say that any true pro-lifer would advocate something like this:
1. A period of five or ten years of some kind of public penance, where government officials help to purify the nation of the lies about abortion by regular ceremonies acknowledging how the Roe v. Wade regime has been a horrible mistake. We as a nation have the blood of many innocents on our hands. (May the Lord have mercy on us!)
2. Simultaneously, we work to re-organize the healthcare system, to remove abortion and artificial contraception.
3. Then, after this five or ten year period, once the air has been cleared about what abortion is, allowing everyone to reach a state of tranquil conscience on this matter, then we could re-open the political debate about appropriate criminal penalties for abortionists. (Which would not involve re-inventing the wheel, since these debates occurred all over the country prior to Roe v. Wade.)
Father Mark White Blog 
I’m glad you aren’t part of the court system, since you seem not to understand that the standard (under law) of who is or is not a person is determined by viability, the ability of a being to survive (under normal circumstances) outside a womb. The law treats individuals unable to survive as POTENTIAL humans, not co-equal in rights to those who have been born and survived. So, abortion, with different restrictions in different states, is entirely and completely legal. You just think it shouldn’t be because it’s morally wrong.
While I understand that, for some people, the issue of abortion is something that goes fundamentally against that person’s belief system, I continue to feel frustrated by these types of perspectives that (a) make no allowance for instances where an abortion is deemed medically necessary either to save the life of the woman or because the fetus has significant medical problems (including but not limited to absence of vital organs/body parts); (b) seem to fall prey to the myth that women, everywhere, go around having abortions without any thought or conscience weighing in on their decision. As someone who is fervently pro-choice, I consider myself lucky to some extent that I’ve never been in a situation where I might have had to make such a traumatic decision – but I find it morally reprehensible that people who claim to support life make absolutely no allocation for the quality of life. Moreover, if abortion were to become illegal, who exactly do you think is going to be paying for all those babies you would be forcing into the world – regardless of their ability to lead a normal, productive life? Are YOU going to assume the financial burden, the emotional commitment? Instead of coming down on women as a whole group, I really wish people who share your views would spend more time investing in coming up with REAL solutions – such as preventing unwanted pregnancies by promoting sex ed and making contraceptives available.
“to purity the nation of lies about abortion…” should also include the lies about abortifacient contraceptives, ex. birth control pills which murder far more PEOPLE than the so called abortionist. Thus the consumer of said aborifacient is her own abortionist without a third party and the deed unseen is easily never recognized. The secular rebuttals to support the ‘legality’ of abortion and the act of abortion are so reflective of how each human wants it’s own selfish way and if necessary, modify God out of the equation to do so. Fortunately, God and conscience don’t go away, though the latter may be suppressed but when suppressed, becomes septic. I just can’t see Jesus agreeing with our selfish emote BS trying to justify our depraved behavior
Thou shalt not kill. Murder is murder, right? Be it “mercy killing”, justifiable homicide, or mental lapse whatever the perceived exception taking another’s life cannot stand without consequence.
Your plan certainly has merit in light of justice and healing.