BOY FACES FELONY IN BASEBALL BAT ABORTION:
Law won't allow Macomb teen girl to be charged in helping end her pregnancy
The Detroit News, January 5, 2005:
Macomb county Prosecutor Eric Smith said his hands were tied when it came time to decide whom to charge in the baseball bat beating death of a fetus being carried by a teenage girl.
He decided Tuesday to do the only thing one state statute allowed: charge the boyfriend who wielded the bat, hitting the girlfriend repeatedly over a two-week period, but let the girl off the hook, uncharged...If convicted, he could remain in custody until age 21.
But the girl, also from Richmond-who was a willing participant in the induced abortion...cannot be charged under that law because it specifically excludes the mother from criminal liability.
<snip>
Legally, the baby could have been aborted. BECAUSE THE GIRL WAS A MINOR, SHE WOULD HAVE NEEDED A JUDGE'S OR PARENTAL PERMISSION TO OBTAIN AN ABORTION.
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So now we have a boy in jail for years because a pregnant teenager and her boyfriend were too scared to talk to their parents or a judge. This is what happens when the fundamentalists restrict access to abortion, and why parental consent laws are a very bad idea. This fetus was 6 months old. If legal abortion had been easily accessible, the pregnancy could have been safely terminated in the early weeks, without all of this trauma and heartbreak to everyone involved.
Note: You can vote in a poll on whether the girl should be charged and post comments. (Mine's there, under L. Belle)
http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0501/05/A01-50709.htmhttp://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0501/05/A01-50709.htm
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