I don't get this. Scott Peterson (and if you don't know who he is, you're lucky) is being charged with two counts of murder--one for the murder of his wife Laci, and one for the murder of their unborn child.

How the hell is this possible?

If abortion is legal in the US because the law does not recognize a child as a human being until birth, how can they then turn around and try a man for murder of an 8th month fetus?

I haven't personally codified my own stance on abortion because I haven't yet decided for myself when life begins. Although I'm convinced that it doesn't begin at conception, I'm just as convinced that at some point during pregnancy an abortion becomes the equivalent of murder because the fetus represents a human life. So I'm not saying it's morally wrong to try him for his unborn son's murder, I'm just saying it's an incredible double standard to say that third trimester abortion is legal but what he did isn't. They seem equivalent to me, except in his case he *also* killed the mother, which brings in the issue of capital punishment. From what I understand, the only reason he's being tried for the murder of his unborn son is because in the jurisdiction where the crime was commited, you can't be sentenced to death for just a single murder--it takes two or more. So the *only* reason they're trying him for that murder is so that he'll be eligible for the death penalty.

So this man may be put to death for something that doctors can do legally in this country. I don't get it. You can't have it both ways. Either killing an 8th month fetus is murder, or it's not. I don't see much grey area here.

-- Dave