IMO, you have nothing to reconcile.
Abortion involves the taking of a life which, depending on your views, may or may not be a person and therefore have a right to live.
Capital punishment involves killing a person who has been convicted of a crime so serious, he is deemed unfit to continue existing.
We’re talking about two seperate issues, two completely different situations.
Bingo !
Thanks, Veb, for putting it better than I could’ve.
: adjusts TVeblen’s approval rating a notch or two higher on mod list : 
The difference between abortion and capital punishment is that abortion is a choice of a woman (and hopefully her physician) on what to do with her body. I strongly disagree with abortion as a means of birth control, but agree %100 when the abortion is used as a medical procedure to prevent possible health risks of neophyte or mother. Many people also raise the issue of pregnancy as a result of rape, but this is fairly infrequent and may lie in the gray area of many philosophies. This is a whole other thread that needn’t be started, and I don’t care to touch it!
Capital Punishment is the same as state sanctioned murder. On this subject I don’t have a strong opinion, but the difference as I mentioned previously is that abortion is a choice, and Capital Punishment is a punishment in the most severe. This is a very controversial topic, and there are many good arguments for both sides.
As RoboDude said, you have nothing to reconcile. It is perfectly rational to have different views in regards to life concerning these multifaceted issues.
This argument has validity only when you consider abortion murder. If you don’t, then you wouldn’t compare abortion to rape/murder/etc, because abortion is a medical procedure you choose to partake in, whereas murder/rape/etc are acts that occur against someone else.
I am decidely pro-choice. A woman’s body is a woman’s body, period, and the government has no right to dictate what she and her physician choose to do with it. What I do with my uterus is my choice, and no one should be able to decide for me. I firmly believe that better sex-ed programs, increased information about birth control, increased availibility of birrth control, and a widespeard acceptance of the reality that people WILL have sex, and that their best weapon is knowledge about birth control and other prevention methods, would decrease the number of abortions significantly. But we still need the legal option of abortion and morning-after pills so that woman can make the best decision possible particular to their sitation.
I am also decidely anti-death penalty. I think there are simply too many shades of grey in our justice system to ensure that the person killed is the person repsonsible. I would like to see criminals serving their full sentences and dying in prison, if necessary. I do not think the government has the right to murder someone, and I don’t think the death penalty is decreasing the number of crimes committed. It seems to me to be little more than an ineffectual continuation of the age-old eye-for-an-eye philosophy that has no place in modern society.
I am anti-abortion in that I would never choose abortion for a child of mine or for that matter for any fetus. However, I am also firmly pro-choice in that I don’t believe that I have the right to make that choice for others, nor do I believe that the government should have to right to do so. I see forced pregnancy as being in the same category as forced abortion: government making decisions individuals should be making.
I am anti-death penalty for strictly pragmatic reasons. I have no moral problem with putting certain people to death, but the US system of justice is very flawed in its inconsistent enforcement of the death penaly. What’s more, I don’t think that any reformation of the system is likely to reform this problem; it seems to be inherent in the system itself. If it were possible to determine absolutley the guilt of murderers, and the death penalty were enforced consistently among all demographic groups, I would be for it. But I don’t see that happening soon.
Being pro-choice and anti-death penalty is consistent in one way: they both favor limiting the power of the government.
Bravo Number Six!!!
That’s interesting, Six.
And thanks all for the thought-provoking posts, and replying in the spirit the OP was asked.
Last chance for any stragglers to state their views, as I think this thread has done it’s dash, and can go to sleep now 
Abortion: used to be against (grew up in a Catholic household). Then I reached the age where I could have a child, and realized how much it would screw up my life. Even so, I would probably have the child. But there are many women who may not have the same views as me.
Death Penalty: against. The demographics of those sentenced and/or executed are too skewed for me to believe that it is handed out fairly.
How I reconcile my views: As I said, I probably wouldn’t have an abortion myself. But I think women should have the right to choose. On the other hand, something seems very wrong about granting the government the right to kill it’s citizens. I guess I’m of a similar view as Six in that my views tend to favor the idea of limiting the power of the government. Also, even though I may support pro-choice legislation, I view that whether it is morally wrong to have an abortion, and the consequences therein are on the head of the woman who chooses the abortion. However, since the government is my government, I would feel that any execution was in part my fault.
Abortion - For. Women have abortions for many reasons, among them that the child could not be well supported emotionally, and the mother may herself not be ready for a child because of school, money problems, etc. and people aren’t adopting that much. Why have two ruined lives instead of one successful life?
Death Penalty - Against. As pointed out, sometimes they don’t catch the right guy, but my major concern is that, once somebody is dead, the person is dead. That’s no punishment. Dead people cannot be punished, like someone sentenced to prison would. I would enthusiastically choose death over life in prison if given the choice. Once you’re dead, poof you’re dead and you feel no emotion, but if you’re in prison you lead a life of misery and guilt and regret and general emotional pain.