Laws prohibiting abortion target the abortionist, not the woman.  This is evidenced by the fact that, before Roe v. Wade, American women were never indicted for having illegal abortions.  For several pragmatic reasons, that same approach should be adopted when abortion is again illegal. 

First, except in the extremely unlikely event that a woman is actually caught in the act of having an illegal abortion, a conviction would be virtually impossible. 

Second, the woman is the best source of information needed to bring charges against the abortionist.  If she also faced prosecution, she would not cooperate with the authorities, thus keeping them from getting the evidence needed to convict the abortionist.  That would leave him free to kill again.

This doesn’t excuse the woman for having participated in an illegal act which took the life of her child.  It simply recognizes that the public interest is best served by removing the abortionist from society, and that legal sanctions against the woman would reduce the chances of that happening.  It’s no different than the authorities giving immunity to a small-time drug user in exchange for information on a big-time drug dealer. 

Remember, the goal of the pro-life movement is to stop abortion.  Imprisoning a woman who had an illegal abortion would prevent nothing since her child is already dead.  However, imprisoning the abortionist might save thousands of babies in the future. 

The point is, jail is exactly where every abortionist deserves to be.  If giving women a pass on prosecution is the best way to make that happen, that is a deal worth making.  As for the pro-life movement, we just don’t know of a practical incentive for jailing women who submit to abortions.  The really odd thing is, it always seems to be someone from the pro-choice crowd who argues that they should be.  So I have a suggestion.  If these people think it’s unfair for abortionists to go to jail but not their customers, they need to be the ones lobbying for legislation to put women in jail.