Title:
A New Controversy in the Fetal-Rights Wars.
Authors:
Childress, Sarah
Source:
Newsweek. 3/29/2004, Vol. 143 Issue 13, p7-7. 2/3p. 1 Color Photograph.
Document Type:
Article
Subjects:
UNBORN children (Law)
FETAL death
LEGAL status of fetuses
ROWLAND, Melissa Ann
WOMEN’S rights
LEGAL status of women
CESAREAN section
WOMEN’S societies & clubs
PREGNANCY
LEGISLATION
GOVERNMENT policy
Abstract:
Examines the controversy surrounding law enforcement and women’s groups in trying to protect the unborn children of parents who can not or will not take care of them in the womb. Critical case of Melissa Ann Rowland who is being charged with murder in the stillbirth of one of her twin babies because she waited too long to have a Caesarean section; Other cases which are pending; Mobilization of NOW and other women’s groups to fight the idea of fetal personhood; Recent passage of a bill by the House of Representatives of a federal fetal-homicide law.
Lexile:
1490
Full Text Word Count:
457
ISSN:
0028-9604
Accession Number:
12606308
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=12606308&site=pov-live&scope=site
Cut and Paste:
A New Controversy in the Fetal-Rights Wars.
Database:
Points of View Reference Center
Full Text
Section:
Periscope
JUSTICE
When Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, first saw the black-and-white mug shot of a mentally ill Utah mother, all she could think was, “Oh my God, that poor woman.” Then Gandy learned that 28-year-old Melissa Ann Rowland was being charged with murder in the stillbirth of one of her twin babies, because she waited too long before heeding doctors’ advice to have a Caesarian section. Suddenly, the NOW president saw something different in that sad visage: The face of injustice.
A national debate is raging between women’s groups and law-enforcement types stepping in to protect the health of a fetus from a mother who they believe will not, or cannot, look after it. To the Salt Lake City district attorney, Rowland is a criminal who acted with “depraved indifference” toward her son’s life by refusing surgery. But to NOW–which has cranked its campaign against the prosecution of pregnant women into high gear in the aftermath of the Rowland charges the case is critical because of what it could mean for pro-life advocates hoping to gain legal ground for the idea of fetal “personhood.”
There is no reliable national tally of cases against pregnant women accused of harming their fetuses. But Lynn Paltrow of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women guesses that as many as 30 such cases are winding their way through the state courts, and she worries more may be coming. In the last few months alone, a mother in Hawaii was charged with manslaughter in the death of her newborn son from methamphetamine poisoning, and a drug-user in California was sentenced to life in prison for poisoning her newborn through meth-tainted breast milk.
Women’s-rights advocates say many defendants are victims of “the pre-natal police,” saying prosecutors mislead them into thinking they can be convicted under state fetal homicide laws, and persuade them to plead to lesser charges of child endangerment or drug abuse. Laws covering fetal homicide are in effect in 28 states, but most exclude the mother from culpability (in compliance with Roe v. Wade). Anti-abortion groups have been lobbying Congress to pass a federal fetal homicide law, and a bill made it through the House last month on a vote of 254-163.
Paltrow foresees a near future in which women could be punished for having a cup of coffee, or not taking the correct vitamins. That’s ridiculous, says Joe Giganti, spokesman for the pro-life American Life League. The real issue, he says, is “if she’s going to make a choice that’s going to take that life.”
PHOTO (COLOR): Complex Terrain: Laws to protect the unborn are spurring a national debate
~~~~~~~~
By Sarah Childress
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