She was 33 weeks along. That is close to being full term. Much more than just a fetus at 6 and a half months. I don't think she would have been able to get a legal abortion at that stage. So this does seem closer to a criminal act. However I do agree with you that she is vulnerable and needs mental help.
Comparing Rat Poison to her smoking a cig is a bit of a stretch though, imo.
Very true. But if she had delivered the child and disposed of it, she couldn't be charged with murder unless the state could prove the child took a breath. Other charges may have applied, but they usually can't charge murder.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.
The pregnant woman committed the assault on her fetus, so why is she not being charged with murder? Just because a stranger didn't force feed her the rat poison?
It's the INTENT to kill her child. Smoking whilst pregnant does not kill a child, nor does a drink or 2. Even women who take meth for 9 months deliver babies.
This <modsnip> wanted her child DEAD. The intent is clearly there. IMHO she should not be out on bail - she's right where she belongs.
That's my opinion and I'm a stickin to it!
Mel
But did she really want the child dead? Many women see the child as an individual at the time they learn they are pregnant. But some other women they don't feel that until they feel the child move. Still others only begin to feel that when they actually see the child's face. And that is women who aren't depressed.
For a depressed pregnant woman, I can see many other ways she might react. I can see her totally not mentally facing that she is pregnant. She was killing herself, and totally ignoring that her action would also kill her child. Her mental pain may have been so great that she could not accept the reality of her being pregnant.
I can also see her going to the other extreme and seeing her own situation as so hopeless that she transfers that same same feeling to her unborn child and sees its situation as totally hopeless. Therefore she saw herself as saving the child from feeling the same pain she herself was feeling.
And yes, after she took the rat poison she called someone. That isn't at all unusual. Many suicidal people will make 'attempts' then back out many times before they will actually follow through. I've done the same thing, but wasn't pregnant.
The fact that she called someone can mean many things. It could be that the act of taking the poison scared herself so badly that her self protective instincts kicked in, it could be that she changed her mind. It could be that she thought it was too late for anyone to save her, but she had someone she wanted to say goodbye to. It could just be that in her confused mind, she wanted to die with the feeling that someone cared.
It doesn't automatically have to be that she thought the poison had done the job on her baby and she called to get help for herself. Actually if what she wanted was just to kill her baby, there are many other ways to have attempted to kill the baby that would have provided much less risk to herself.
