Can someone please explain something to me? Please read the link first.
OK, you back? Here's my problem.
Massachusetts allows abortion on demand. A Google search found several options for abortion clinics in the state. And yet, she's accused of killing her unborn child? How can that be, when she can go down to the local clinic and pay someone to do it?
I asked the same question years ago, when a local midwife was accused of killing an unborn child. See, home midwifery is illegal in Illinois. She was at a home birth, and, sadly, the child died. The parents did not charge her. They said they supported her and that she had done all she could; they continued to do so throughout her trial. The State of Illinois charged her. I asked this question of my OB/GYN, and his response was, "I don't know what to tell you." Although he was pro-medical birth and "didn't like" home midwifery, he was supportive of the idea that parents have the responsibility of making such decisions and that life begins at conception.
I asked it again a few years later, when a local teen was charged with killing an unborn child. He had been driving irresponsibly (way too fast) and caused an accident which, although the mother lived, killed an unborn child. But how can that be a crime in Illinois when, like Massachusetts, she could have gone down to the local clinic and paid someone to do it?
Have I lived too long? Am I clueless? Tell me where I've misunderstood something.
3 comments:
While I still agree that it's hugely inconsistent, I do at least understand the motive behind laws that allow separate charges for the murder of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, or for the murder of the unborn. Even a hard-core abortion supporter has to admit that a woman has lost *something* if she miscarries due to violence. In these cases, if a woman wants a child and someone kills it, it's a murder, but if she doesn't want it, she can abort it. In a way, it's almost more horrifying in that it defines the child's humanity based solely on whether the mother wants her child or not.
The case in the story you linked, however, makes no sense at all. From a legal perspective, how can she be charged with anything beyond practicing abortion without a license?
I admit, I don't do deep thinking on this subject. It's more of a gut reaction. That's more pun than anything; when I read on the subject, I feel my kids moving inside me again. I can't fathom the concept of killing an unborn. I imagine my reaction would be different if I knew their birth would kill me, and I admit I would make exception for such. But a whim? It's beyond my bear-of-little-brain imaginings.
Right now, I guess I'm just thankful for the inconsistency. At least somebody somewhere realizes that sometimes a baby's life shouldn't be snuffed out capriciously.
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