Anti-choice activists always say “punish the doctor, not the mother.”  For Florida Rep. Charles Van Zant, that punishment for the physician would be life in prison.

Van Zant has proposed an all out abortion ban that would make the procedure entirely illegal, unless certain requirements were met ahead of time.  According to Jessica Mason Pieklo, the list includes:

• certification in writing by two physicians that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of a pregnancy is necessary to prevent the death of the patient;

• two doctors certify in writing to the fact that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the termination of a pregnancy is necessary because to continue the pregnancy would unreasonably reduce the likelihood of successful treatment of a life-threatening disease of the patient; or

• a doctor certifies in writing that a medical emergency existed and another doctor was not available for consultation prior to termination of the pregnancy and that medical condition must be “clearly described.”

If these conditions are not met, the doctor, who will have committed a felony, can look forward to spending the rest of his or her life in prison.  But no death penalty, of course.  After all, they are “pro-life.”