> > 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?

> > -- Dave
>
> Also of note: it varies from state-to-state. It is state law in California that killing an unborn child, and not in the "form" of an abortion, is a homicide. This is not true throughout the nation.
>
> The Other Matthew

I heard about this on Monday, and I can't believe how perfectly and ridiculously contentious this is.

I think the moral issue here is quite clear, regardless of what one believes about the rightness or wrongness of abortion. Just as Dave pointed out, if it is morally acceptable to abort a fetus at a particular time, then it is morally inconsistent to consider that same killing to be murder when commited by someone other than the mother of the fetus. Or, at least, this seems close to what Dave meant (correct me if I'm wrong).

I think, though, that someone might come up with a legal distinction based on property law. That distinction would be that the mother technically 'owns' the fetus/infant, thereby making the killing of that infant by someone other than the mother an intrusion on her property rights. I think that this is legally shaky ground, and misguided whether it is shaky or not, but property laws have been invoked in connection with abortion before.

But, honestly, staunch pro-choice defenders cannot have it both ways; either the fetus/infant is morally significant, taking on person status, or he/she is not: if the infant is a person, he/she cannot be aborted morally; if not, then no person can be held accountable for his/her murder, because "murder" does not apply to non-persons. Most people on both sides of the abortion debate (that I know of) agree that in this kind of case, the moral issue should guide the legal outcome. Best not confuse the moral issue to begin with...

frum