Bills to protect unborn planned in Hawaii

Angered by a lack of legal protection for the unborn, a state Senate Republican will propose new criminal penalties against people whose actions lead to the death of unborn children.

The Hawai'i Supreme Court last month reversed a manslaughter conviction against a Kane'ohe woman for causing the death of her newborn baby by smoking crystal methamphetamine, or ice, while she was pregnant. The court ruled the fetus was not a person covered under state law when the woman, Tayshea Aiwohi, used the drug. The ruling also likely means people who harm or kill unborn children in assaults on pregnant women would not be prosecuted for that part of their crimes. Legal observers were watching the case of a Big Island woman, Sarah Fay, who allegedly was beaten by her former boyfriend and then kept alive by a respirator until doctors were able to deliver her baby on Monday.

Although Fay's baby survived, state Sen. Sam Slom, R-8th (Kahala, Hawai'i Kai), said her example, and the death of Aiwohi's baby, showed the need for tougher laws. Similar bills have failed in the past, but Slom said he believes the recent cases may lead majority Democrats to support new protections if there is public pressure.

"You're giving people a free ride," Slom said. "What does it mean when you send a signal that it's open field day on any woman that's pregnant? That there is nothing that could be done to any third-party person under any circumstances?"


http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051214/NEWS03/512140344/1007/NEWS

Enforcement of existing laws (and shelters) protecting women from violent boyfriends and husbands would go far to protecting any fetuses they might be carrying. Laws funding drug rehab centers would certainly help pregnant addicts get clean.

Laws that treat the woman as an accessory to the fetus do nothing substantive to help.

Feh.

Hekate

The anti-abortion movement's professed concern for fetuses will no doubt be accompanied by the usual right wing-inspired funding cuts to prenatal and infant care for the indigent as well as funding cuts to shelters for battered women and for live-in treatment centers young mothers trying to overcome drug addiction.

Such actions, en toto, will again be called "pro life" and "pro-family."

:sarcasm:

I fully expect that. The right will never understand that the seed needs light before it grows. It won't just pop up. It needs to be allowed to be safe and warm, so that its seeds will live.

The right is stupid; final thought

If a parent smokes ice or hemp at home, and exposes their kids to dangerous fumes, will they be charged with manslaughter? I doubt it.

It's rediculous for a law like this to single out expectant mothers while ignoring the same potential problem for living, breathing kids.

After tne child is born, repubs want nothing to do with it. Govt assistance to the crack smoking mother? No way!

In the Sarah Fay case, the perp is going down for the murder of Sarah Fay. We're one of the few civilized states that doesn't have the death penalty, so there's no advantage to prosecutors in going for a double murder, even if in a similar case the fetus dies. Slom knows this but is going after the limelight anyway. :puke:

Also note that slimy anti's would love to establish precedent that a woman ingesting a chemical substance that terminates a pregnancy could be charged wih murder. Today it's "ice", a big enough problem here that everyone trips over their shoelaces to be "tough on ice" -- but tomorrow, what? RU-486, perhaps? :scared:

How this could even make the paper in one of the three pre-Roe states is beyond me. :eyes: