Reply #23: It sure is, but that said, it speaks to the mental state of the woman

[MADem]

She's clearly unwell.

And beyond that, while horrific, you have to beware the slippery slope. Either the body belongs to the woman, or it doesn't. Does the state have control of the woman's body at a certain point in time? When is that? Three months pregnant? Six? Seven? When?

Can the woman having a sip of champagne at a wedding while five months along be prosecuted for attempting to harm the foetus? How about the pregnant woman who neglects to take her vitamins, or doesn't eat what the doctor says should be her daily minimum requirement of say, green leafy vegetables? Lock her up? How should we punish the pregnant woman who just wants to lay on the couch eating ice cream and pickles, and not get up and go to her YMCA prenatal exercise class? Put her in a halfway house/boot camp?

That's the slippery slope if we go down this road in a courtroom setting. What's more useful is to work towards preventing anyone from feeling so damn desperate that they feel they've no other choice in the first place. Education is the first step--readily available birth control (if anyone's a candidate for NORPLANT I suspect it is this woman); the "Plan B" option and reproductive health care being more readily available to the poor and uninsured is another step...but this case is NOT the norm, though the right will grab it and try to paint it as a "logical conclusion" to Roe.

I just hope they don't try to Schiavo this thing...but, hey, they're DESPERATE for an issue, aren't they? And this has ALL the dramatic elements. If the mother to be were a blue eyed blonde, it would be page one from now until election day.

The latest news is that the woman is completely off the hook, and any further action will have to be legislated for future application in cases of this nature: http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/articles/2006/10/20/news/news2.txt

A woman who shot herself earlier this year, killing her unborn, full-term baby, will face no further charges.

On Thursday, Circuit Court Judge Westbrook Parker dropped a felony charge of producing an abortion or miscarriage against Tammy Skinner.....According to published reports, the prosecutor in this case said they have no recourse at this point and it is now up to the legislature, an apparent reference to the state lawmakers perhaps passing a law that includes such crimes in the future.