Confessions of a G33k

The National Organization for Women and how fetuses should be treated legally

I saw this story on Drudge too, but I wasn't sure if I was going to blog about it until I read this at Outside the Beltway.

Let me just say first off, this is a really poorly written article quoting a random NOW leader in North Jersey. Not to say that I agree with her musings, but it would be a totally different story if Martha Burk said it.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at the most important fact coloring this story, the baby in the Peterson case was found outside of the mother's body. We're adults here and I think it's universally recognized that something violent happened to Laci Peterson to cause her viable baby (she disappeared around 35 weeks gestation, so the baby was certainly viable) to be, for lack of a better word, born. Honestly, she could have given birth naturally or have had something else happen to her. I'm sure there is forensic analysis going on right now trying to determine how the baby left Mom's body.

(Update: Scott Peterson is being charged with causing harm to an unborn fetus.)

Thusly this brings me to my next point, which is how do you legally protect an unborn viable fetus and Mom? The woman from NOW is taking the position that until the baby leaves the Mother, it's a fetus and should treated as such. Others are trying to posit that the unborn fetus has rights too. Now, avoiding the canard that is the partial birth abortion debate, we need to ask ourselves is it really correct to not legally protect a wanted viable fetus from abuse or violent acts directed towards it?

I'm writing this as a woman who has gone through a difficult pregnancy and labor and I'm sympathetic to both sides of the debate. Personally, I believe that abortion should be legal and available up to time of fetal viability. (Yes, I know because of medical advances, the viability date has gotten earlier and earlier.) After that, it should be available only if the pregnancy threatens the health of the Mother, since she is the one threatened by the pregnancy. I also believe that acts of violence and abuse to a fetus that is wanted should be punished. How do you prove if the fetus is wanted? Does Dad wanting the fetus count? Does Mom buying baby paraphernalia and naming her unborn child indicate want? Does the mere fact of carrying the fetus indicate want? Or is want determined by not aborting the fetus by the age of viability? This is a criteria of law that our courts need to develop.

It is a tragedy that has occurred to Laci and her baby and her family. I just wish the media would just not use it to exploit a particular political view.