The story of a woman arrested for putting her fetus in harm’s way on the day she got shot showcased a huge divide in the country. Pleasant Grove police department received hate mail from around the country. One man told me: They don’t think it's a baby. nyti.ms/2X8Pubm
In Alabama, it's clear that most people do believe that a fetus is a baby with the same rights as a child who has already been born. I interviewed black women, and white women and white men and even a guy from Bahrain who had settled in Pleasant Grove. They said similar things.
From what I could tell, the talk of the town was that #MarshaeJones was irresponsible to start a fist fight in place where so many people carry guns, and doing so put her unborn baby in harm's way. No black woman I interviewed thought she could go to prison for it, but men did.
If you believe that life begins at conception, and that courts should protect that life, then pregnant women are liable for all kinds of crimes no man could ever commit. What's to stop them from being arrested for risking the unborn by rock climbing or playing football?
Brent Helms, a lawyer who filed a wrongful death case on behalf of an aborted fetus said there are 2 questions: “Is it a person? If so, to what lengths will we go to protect this person?” He said courts should weigh rights of the unborn on a case-by-case basis, like other kids
Reporting this story, I had to ask myself: When I miscarried, didn't I mourn the loss of a baby? But the risks of letting lawyers decide this question are clear. Courts are a flawed instrument to decide when life begins, especially in the age of IVF. nyti.ms/2X8Pubm
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