Thinking it over, if Trig had been born on the plane, would Palin have

[hedgehog]

been charged with child endangerment? Various prosecutors have gone after women for exposing their fetuses/unborn children to cocaine and heroin. What about failing to use common sense?

[valerief]

1. If a fundie does it, it's okay.

[hedgehog]

2. I don't know - haven't prosecutors gone after Christian Scientists for

child endangerment, not to mention mothers who want to give birth at home?

[LeftyMom]

3. Prosecutions of homebirths are very rare, because homebirth is safe and legal.

Dragging your laboring ass on a commercial flight is another thing entirely.

[hedgehog]

4. I suspect that if the baby is in any distress after a home birth,

both midwife and parents will get a visit from law enforcement. Of course, no one cares to make sure poor women get pre-natal care!

[LeftyMom]

10. If it's something that can't be handled at home, one transfers to the local hospital.

And if they're using a midwife, they had prenatal care. The only legal issue in most states would be if a midwife provided care in a situation not permitted by her licensure (usually certain defined situations that constitute high risk pregnancies) or some other law were violated.

Again, you're comparing apples and oranges. Planned homebirth is a legal, legitimate and very safe option for low-risk deliveries. Taking a 12 hour, two leg commercial flight while in labor is stupid and dangerous and had anything gone wrong it probably meets the definition of criminal negligence.

[hedgehog]

11. Maybe I'm thinking back some years ago when midwives and home

birthing advocates faced legal prosecution. I guess my point is that if prosecutors went after women for planning home births, what would they do about someone who pulls a stunt like Palin did!

[Tumbulu]

5. In fact I called it attempted infanticide.

That is my impression.

Once the amniotic fluid starts leaking, that's it- to the doctor. PERIOD! I get the impression that this woman wanted the baby to die. And now she is traipsing all over the place with a special needs baby? I call this child endangerment. Let alone her daughter who is pregnant. Why is she flying all over the place? Flying is hard on babies and old people and pregnant women.

This woman is a nut case and it is criminal what she has done and is doing to her children.

I am a mom and I am horrified.

[hedgehog]

7. I'm a mother of six, and believe me, once I knew I was in labor I wanted

to be at the hospital ASAP! Turns out to be a good thing too, because after a prefect pregnancy and text book labor, one of my kids was in distress literally seconds before delivery and the doctor had to intervene. I'm dubious about home birthing after that. Normally things go along just fine, but when things go bad, they go very bad very fast!

[seabeyond]

6. exactly. to me it is as irresponsible as handing an 8 yr old bottle of whiskey for sleep aid

or any other kind of extraordinarily stupid thing a person can do to their child. the height of poor judgment. i cannot get past this behavior of hers. i cannot

it shows how nonthinking she is in a life and death situation

like a drunk playing russian roulette behind the wheel

[hedgehog]

8. Excellent comparison! Every so often we hear about a baby that gets poisoned because

a parent adds whiskey to the bottle to help the kid sleep!

[progressivejazz]

9. An angle nobody seems to have brought up yet.

My question is whether if the baby had been born in Texas he would have been eligible for the payout every Alaskan gets this year. This could have been simply greed taking precedence over caring for your unborn.

[RC]

12. $3000 can make some people stupid or stupider.

[BadgerKid]

13. I agree.

I commented on that yesterday. Great minds, etc. :toast:

[BadgerKid]

14. Other angles (from Kos)

I'll just quote:

This explains why they were so eager to fly back to Alaska even though she was in labor. They wanted the son to be an Alaskan citizen when Alaska votes to succeed from the union.

(Palin) and hubby agree that place of birth is important.

endquote.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/1/4231/18477/878/581881