LA man arrested in death of his unborn child

[cbdo2007]

LA man arrested in death of his unborn child

Authorities say a 37-year-old Los Angeles man has been arrested on suspicion of murder for the death of an unborn child believed to be his.

Police said in a press release that Joshua Woodward was arrested Sunday in Los Angeles and is being held on $2 million bail in a county jail.

Police say the arrest came after an investigation on Monday revealed "suspicious circumstances of a miscarriage." Investigators estimate the fetus was in its 13th week.

Police released no information on the mother or the circumstances of the child's death.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/25/state/n193421D23.DTL#ixzz0V3bJib3n

[T Wolf]

1. What bullshit! I just wonder how far the fundies will push this save-the-fetus crap into

our lives.

At first I thought LA was Louisiana and I could believe this nonsense coming from there. To find it comes from Los Angeles is especially sad.

[Barack_America]

9. Yeah, 13 weeks is really, really early in a pregnancy.

There was no "person" murdered.

The assault of this woman and the consequences of it were horrid, to be sure, but we have to be careful when we let our heartstrings come before the law.

[Warpy]

2. He couldn't have done it without severely assaulting the woman

Why is she missing from the picture?

Oh, right. As soon as she gets pregnant, a woman legally ceases to exist.

[Sal Minella]

Wom(b)an. eom.

[imdjh]

3. My guess would be that they are trying to charge him with the highest crime they can.

So if he gave the mother an abortion pill they might be able to charge him with what? Painful but not fatal poisoning? Administering medicine without a license?

[Warpy]

6. Possibly

but RU486 is ridiculously controlled, much more so than narcotics or any other dangerous drug. In any case, she was too far along for it to have been effective.

My guess is that an assault had to have taken place. Maybe the woman wanted to get rid of the fetus, maybe not.

[Gwendolyn]

4. That's silly and more than likely not the reason. Lol. n/t

[Donald Ian Rankin]

14. Possibly she wanted her privacy respected? N.T.

[Warpy]

16. That would explain why she's not named.

It wouldn't explain the absence of an assault charge.

[Xithras]

5. Good.

I was having a conversation at a NARAL counterprotest several years ago, and asked one of the organizers (as part of a bigger conversation involving a few high profile fetus murders at the time) at what point a "fetus" becomes a "person". She looked at me and simply said, "I'm pro choice, so I believe it's the mothers choice. It becomes a person when she says it does."

Good enough for me. If the mother wanted it and this guy killed it anyway, toss him in a cage. He's a murderer.

[imdjh]

7. what an absurd standard that woman has

[Xithras]

The standard of the mother is the only standard that matters.

That's what pro-choice is all about.

[Xithras]

10. The standard of the mother is the only standard that matters.

That's what pro-choice is all about.

[cbdo2007]

8. ding ding ding ding ding - we have a winner!

Thanks, I've never heard it put that way before. I've always just said, it was based on the "intentions" of the mother. If it was her intention to have the baby, it's a crime for someone else to kill it.

[Sal Minella]

11. "It's a baby when the woman says it's a baby."

A sensible young man posted that on a message board I frequented long ago.

This also avoids any tut-tutting over a couple who grieves deeply over an early miscarriage, when the possibility of a longed-for child is lost.

Between conception and viability-outside-the-womb, it's up to the womb's owner to make the call, imo.

[alarimer]

15. That should not be a LEGAL standard.

One of the reasons we have a legal code is so that the law is the same for everyone.

We cannot charge this guy with murder just because this woman wanted the child, while some other guy does not get charged with murder in a similar crime if that other woman did not want it. I am no lawyer but I am pretty sure that is unconstitutional.

No, what this guy was bad; he should be charged with assault but it was NOT murder, just because of her say-so.

[Titanothere]

12. That's taking the "Because I said so..." line a little far.

[REP]

13. That's a nice thought, but terrible policy

A crime was comitted against the WOMAN (remember her?), not the fetus. The pregnant woman can call a 13-week old fetus a baby or a bun in the oven, but neither makes it a baby nor pastry.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. strange story with lack of details. hmmmm

[niyad]

18. a 13-week fetus is NOT a child--this is just more woman-hating, anti-choice bs

to undermine women's reproductive rights.