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Following hours of passionate debate, during which Florida lawmakers were urged to respect life from conception to the casket, 70 House members voted to effectively ban abortions in Florida.

A short time later, 67 of those same 70 voted to help prosecutors make executions easier by lowering the threshold for a death sentence to eight of 12 jurors. Florida now has the lowest execution threshold of all 50 states with repeal of a 2017 law that required a jurys death recommendation to be unanimous.

How can you be pro-life on one hand and be pro-death on the other? Rep. Yvonne Hinson, D-Gainesville, who opposed both bills, asked her colleagues.

Supporters of a less restrictive death penalty law hardly bothered to answer. It was simply a primal political scream over the 9-3 jury recommendation that spared the life of the Parkland mass murderer. No one claimed it would prevent another such massacre, which of course it wont.

But it was an opportunity not to be missed by those who want to be seen as tough on crime, especially Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, with no trace of irony, signed both pro-life and pro-death into law.

The hypocrisy was just as obvious in the Florida Senate. The vote there was 26-13 for the six-week abortion ban (SB 300), and 29-10 for the pro-death legislation (SB 450). Sens. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, sponsor of the anti-abortion bill, and Ileana Garcia, R-Miami, were the only two senators to oppose the death legislation and another bill to execute child rapists.

Only three House members who voted for the anti-abortion bill opposed the death penalty bill. They were Mike Beltran, R-Tampa, Will Robinson, R-Venice, and Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce.

Those who supported both may have cossetted their consciences by distinguishing the execution of a criminal from the dismemberment of an innocent human child, as Rep. David Borrero, R-Sweetwater, described abortion.

Thats not how the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops sees it. The Conference, which has consistently opposed executions and lobbied against SB 450, issued a statement in answer to a question from the Sun Sentinel.

The Catholic Church embraces a consistent ethic of life from conception to natural death that calls for the promotion of public policies essential to the defense of human life, whether that life is innocent or has caused great harm, the church said. It commended those whose consistent pro-life votes demonstrated respect for the inviolability and dignity of all persons.

No doubt many of those who voted inconsistently do value criminals lives less than those of fetuses, but the disconnect indicates that the anti-abortion legislation is as much about political power as about sincerity and consistency. Women are collateral victims in the Republican Partys alliance with social conservatives.

The 2023 session will be remembered as one that repealed the required permit to carry concealed weapons in Florida. Since that will spawn more murders, building on Floridas reckless stand your ground law, the death penalty bill is an ironic addition to the culture of violence. There continue to be more mass shootings this year than days on the calendar. Its becoming frequent for hotheaded homeowners to shoot people who mistakenly knock on their doors or turn into their driveways.

The death penalty, lax gun laws and gunfire are the fruit of a deep-seated culture of violence our nation cannot seem to shed. Its origins are many: the frontier, genocide against Native Americans, the brutality of slavery, the Civil War, the lynching mentality that permeated the Southern and Western states where the death penalty is still most invoked, and the lawlessness fostered by Prohibition and glorified in popular culture. It is not a stretch to argue that the anti-abortion bills are violence against women.

The law in Florida is now as pro-death as it was before 1972, when defendants of capital crimes were automatically condemned unless a majority of the jurors recommended life. Now, a death recommendation is automatic unless seven of 12 jurors oppose it. Only Alabama permits a less-than-unanimous vote of 10 to 2, although two other states let a judge decide when juries cant.

The new Florida law also requires judges to explain in writing if they dont accept jury death recommendations. That further tilts the scales and may create openings for peeved prosecutors to appeal to a state Supreme Court thats stridently pro-death penalty.

No governor since Reubin Askew in the 1970s has questioned the usefulness or morality of the death penalty. Askew said he became convinced it wasnt a deterrent, but signed the new death penalty law the Legislature passed in December 1972 to replace what the Supreme Court had outlawed.

Only three of 160 legislators voted against that bill. This time a total of 40 did (10 senators and 30 House members), so Florida has made progress. But its not nearly enough.

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Hypocrisy on matters of life and death | Editorial - South Florida Sun Sentinel