That may be how law is interpeted... but is it right? Interesting topic for sure. Personally, while I regonize a women's right to choose... it isn't a choice I could ever recommend if I had input. Also... in some states if you kill a pregnant women you can be charged with murder twice right? Seems to recognize that it isn't just another part of her body.
That's not true. If you kill a pregnant mother, you can be charged with a double-homicide. Remember Scott Peterson? He was convicted of double-homicide.
She was 8 month's pregnant. You can't abort an 8 month old fetus. But, I haven't read the law, so I don't know if they could charge him w/ murder if she was say, 1 month pregnant.
Is this by state? Because I always thought the law stated something about a life being able to support itslef (breathing on it's own and such) If a killer charged with double murder if he stabs a mother and an unborn baby dies, why wouldn't a mother having an abortion also be considered murder by law? I am not trying to get into a debate over abortion being murder or not, I am just trying to understand what the difference is?
1 month or 8 months, she is still pregnant. Is there a clear cut day, hour or second that it becomes illegal? If someone stabs a baby through the mothers stomach right before birth, instead of stabbing the baby right after birth, is there a difference?
That was my point, I don't know. For abortion, there is a point where you can no longer get one. Not sure when it is though.
Read Roe v Wade, it's not hard to understand it... Basically, the court came up with trimesters. In the first three months, the state has no compelling interest to stop an abortion. The state has some interest in the 2nd trimester, and a lot of interest in the 3rd. Their reasoning is based upon the viability of the baby outside the womb. And as pro choice as I am, it is a baby from conception to me, just for it's unique human DNA. I'm not sure about the double homicide laws, but I don't see any reason for them not to have effect from day 1. Nobody but a doctor and the woman have a right to take the life.
Yeah, I forgot to write in my previous post that murder laws are almost exclusively the purview of the states. Federal murder trials are RARE.
It looks like that murder lead to a federal law, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, allowing an unborn fetus to be considered a victim during a federal offense. There were already many states who had similar laws in place. Oregon it looks like it was not one of them. Scott Peterson was convicted under California law.
