[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes:
On Fri, 27 Mar 1998 13:43:22 -0500 (EST) [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
>
>
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (William J. Foristal) writes [in part]:
>
>>Ironically, the law does not specify the rights of a fetus who is NOT
>>"subsequently born" but dies as a result of the criminal action.
>Given
>>the legality of abortion, it seems a defense attorney could argue
>that
>>the fetus had no rights at the time of its death.
>
>Maybe someone can recall a case where a pregnant woman was shot in the
>stomach and the shooter was charged with murder for the death of the
>fetus
>despite the argument the fetus is not a full human being.
>
>The law can make sense if people use their heads. Abortion is legally
>reasonable because of the rights of the woman. That should in no way
>provide
>a shield to a killer. Theological arguments about life are beside the
>point.
>
>I wish I could help the case presented. The law can be read any way a
>lawyer cares to read it as in the above case.
>Best, Terry
HI Terry,
Laws define legality regardless of whether they are reasonable or not.
If a fetus had legal standing as a person with all rights included then
abortion could never be legal. In that case a woman's "choice" to
terminate the fetus, and a doctor's "choice" to perform the procedure
would be no different than a killer's "choice" to kill a person
It is not significant as to how a lawyer reads or interprets a law. It
is significant how the Supreme Court interprets a law, whether we see
their interpretation as correct and reasonable.
Of course, it IS always possible for a skilled lawyer to convince a jury
to return a guilty verdict against a defendant in these cases. And there
could very well be states that have laws that enable murder charges be
brought against perps who kill a pregnant woman and thereby kill the
fetus.
My comment was simply that the paragraph in the California law that Sue
posted did not seem to be referring to this and was meant to define the
rights of a fetus that was "subsequently born."
Bill
.
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