Fr. Rob links to a story of a Virginia woman who shot herself in the stomach in order to kill her unborn child on the day he was to be born. A judge has dropped the charges, saying “the law did not make it a crime for a mother to cause her own abortion.” Hey, he could at least have charged her with practicing medicine without a license. On the other hand, if you wanted to remove your own appendix would it be a crime?
The horror and revulsion we feel at this decision is appropriate, but the decision is also logical. I’ve always been a little put off by the inconsistency of prosecuting women who put their unborn children in danger through drug use or charging someone with two murders if they kill a pregnant woman, even while abortion is legal. Yet, such evident contradictions are all part and parcel of our society’s evil infatuation with pre-natal homicide.
I wonder if this woman could be prosecuted under the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act? Probably not.
