I have also spent some time pondering the death penalty and abortion. But Detective is right, the answer is not to take the two issues into the same analysis...
The two issues to put together are abortion and gay marriage. I come down on the pro-child side. Anti-abortion, and anti gay marriage.
Gay Marriages cannot produce children (without a lot of intervention) so gay marriage is all about what the adults want. That’s not marriage. Call it whatever you want, it’s not marriage.
Abortion kills a nacent life. There is no other way to look at it. I don’t take it to the extreme, so I would make an exception for rape/incest/life of the mother. But that’s it.
As to the death penalty, I’m not sure it works as a deterrent. It is certainly more expensive than life without parole, but individuals have to take responsibility for their actions.
What justified an abortion in the case of the rape/incest exception: is it the woman’s strong feelings?