Reply #20: actually, that's not the piece of information missing

[iverglas]

how pregnant was she?

Nope. It's: was the fetus delivered alive?

if it wasn't, it was a human fetus, not a human being. And homicide is the act of killing a human being and nothing else.

The standard for most states is 24 weeks, before that it is an abortion whether spontaneous or not after, a miscarriage or possible murder or manslaughter.

Some states in the U.S. -- I actually don't think it's most -- have varying types of "fetal homicide" laws.

The laws either provide for punishment as if the destruction of a fetus were homicide or define fetal destruction as homicide for the purposes of the particular law.

Both approaches are clearly unconstitutional, under the equal protection clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights.

- a doctor who performs an abortion that is legal under state laws is exempt from the provisions;
- a woman who causes the destruction of her own fetus is exempt from the provisions;
- an individual convicted under those laws is being punished for doing something s/he did not do: commit homicide.

The fact that such laws have been approved by courts in the U.S. really says nothing about their constitutionality, let alone their complete incoherency.