Woman arrested for attempted murder for failed abortion
Posted by Mathew | February 1, 2010 | 1 Comment
Here’s some more No Shortage of Crazy:
Q. If a woman desires (and is permitted by law) to terminate her pregnancy, under what circumstances is she not allowed to?
A. In a culture which says that abortions are permitted by law when the mother does not desire the child, doesn’t it then seem contradictory to state that the mother cannot induce a termination of her own accord?
In most States in the US and increasingly in the UK and in Australia, abortions can be solicited for any reason, even if the pregnancy is desired by the father – the mother’s decision vetoes that of her husband’s/partner’s.
Recently, an Iowanian woman was arrested for attempt of murder charges after she failed to end her pregnancy by purposely throwing herself down the stairs of her home. While I think the charges are well founded (as the life she attempted to end was that of an innocent human being), it does come as odd that a society that permits clinical abortion on the one hand is then also obligated into drafting up attempted-murder charges with the other against mothers self-inducing abortions.
Let’s look at the illogic:
- Scenario A – woman falls pregnant and does not desire the child. The law permits her to undergo a clinical abortion;
- Scenario B – woman falls pregnant and does not desire the child. She is not permitted by law to throw herself down a staircase to terminate the pregnancy herself
In both scenarios (and assuming the woman in question above was successful in her attempt), the desire is the same; only the manner in which the abortion is sought differs. If the law is to be in anyway consistent, wouldn’t you think that: 1) either scenario would attract legal charges of murder?, or; 2) a different charge other than murder (and manslaughter) would be issued in the case of scenario B?
The double-standard here sticks out like all heck. Either the child in the womb is fully human and deserving of the full protection of the law in all circumstances (which means illegalising abortion), or the child in the womb is not fully human and the Iowanian woman ought not be charged with any criminal offence.
Now, which is it? And what happened to the woman’s “choice”?
(H/tip: Sanity in an Upside Down World)
Related Thoughts out !oud posts
Comments
One Response to “Woman arrested for attempted murder for failed abortion”
Leave a Reply
Subscribe to my thoughts!
February 1st, 2010 @ 5:00 pm
The law is not consistent at all. It's mostly at this point whatever a lawyer wants it to be