In recent editions of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, news briefs recounted convictions or charges of murder for two men in the death of fetuses.
One man, in Tennessee, was sentenced in Knoxville to 50 years in prison for the shooting death of a pregnant woman and her fetus. The other man, in Arizona, was wanted in Phoenix for murder charges in the death of his estranged wife, her fetus and her male renter, and also was sought in the possible abduction of their two sons.
Why, a reader wanted to know, can individuals be charged in the deaths of fetuses but abortion – the deliberate termination of a pregnancy – is legal?
It’s a good question with a fairly simple answer. The right for a woman to choose an abortion – in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case with which many are familiar – was found by the United States Supreme Court to be protected under privacy rights granted by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. However, fetal homicide laws – laws regarding fetuses killed by violent acts against pregnant women – are established in state legislatures and vary from state to state.
For those of us with pro-life leanings, the Supreme Court abortion ruling looks more hypocritical each year as the viability of infants at younger ages increases, due to medical advances, and nearly four out of five states have adopted fetal homicide laws.