hambirg
New Member
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- Jun 26, 2011
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You keep saying that but it's just seriously not the case. There has not been one recorded case of a brain dead pregnant mother whose family wants the baby, but the hospital pulled the plug or threatened to do so. Not. One. And that's because if the family determines that the pregnancy should continue and the child be given a chance to be born, it is no longer a case of futile life support.
Further, even if the totally improbable happened, and some crazy hospital stated they were going to disconnect support against the family's wishes and terminate the pregnancy, the public outcry would be so incredible, and it would be seriously easy for the family to go to court and get an injunction.
This is just not a reasonable concern, in my legal opinion. We do not live in communist China or Nazi Germany where the authorities can force people to have abortions. In our country, as we can all easily see, it is not the right to carry a baby that is threatened. It's the right not to.
I respect your posts, but this judge's decision had nothing to do with what you are claiming. He never addressed familial rights, or the 14th amendment. If the woman is dead and the fetus is not at or past 24 weeks, she is not a patient and the state has no interest in the potential life of the fetus.
What this judge decided is that the statute doesn't apply because Marlise is dead and not a "patient." Period. He did address that the State has an interest in an unborn fetus, but in the eyes of the law, that interest only applies to fetuses that are at or past 24 weeks gestation.
The Texas legislature can simply go change the wording and nothing will have changed. A family wanting to keep their deceased loved one alive for a fetus under 24 weeks will have to go the route of the McMath family. If they can't find a facility that will take their loved one they are SOL.
This was not a win for familial rights.
ETA- Who is claiming this has anything to do with Marlise's right to not terminate her pregnancy. She NEVER chose to terminate it. Not in life, not after death.