Thinking my thinks

[valarltd]

I can't seem to get as worked up about a lot of issues as a lot of people can.
I suspect it's from reading too much SF.

Polygamous marriage? Sure. i was reading that at 15 in Robert heinlein's Friday. What's the problem? OK, the divorce got ugly, and none of the women ever understood how the guys decided who tospend the night with.

Gay marriage? Confronted that at 17 in Julian May's Pliocene books, and later in her Milieu books. Kind of took it for granted that this was coming.

Cloning? Yeah. It's kind of a given. Reprotech advances? So?

OTOH, I can't get too worked up about the Unborn victims of Violence act. Around here, they call it a "downtown abortion" when a guy gets a bunch of his buddies to beat his girlfriend into a misscarriage or until she dies, whichever comes first. It's just taken for granted in some areas that if you're pregnant you'll get beaten.

Friend of mine was a target of an assault directed at her solely because she was pregnant. Her little guy lived a day after she miscarried him (she was 6 mo) and is buried in the family plot. She could only prosecute the guy for her attempted murder, and not for trying to kill the baby.

Since homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women, i think being able to prosecute twice as hard would be a good thing.

Comments

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

Since homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women, i think being able to prosecute twice as hard would be a good thing.

You mean so that illegal abortion would become the leading killer of pregnant women instead?

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

What do you think the homicides are?

It's got a clause in there that women can't be prosecuted for aborting.

But should a man who kill a woman for no reason other than the fact she's pregnant not face 2 counts of murder? He knows he killed two people. That's why he did it.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

If a foetus isn't a person (and I believe that a foetus isn't a person) then no, a man who beats a woman so that she miscarries cannot be charged with murder. (He can and he should be charged with assault in the most heinous degree - I am not attempting to say his crime isn't horrible, just saying that it isn't murder unless the woman dies, and it can't be a double count of murder.)