- Feb 5, 2002
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A Massachusetts murder case highlights what critics decry as a double standard.
In a Nutshell
The highest state court in Massachusetts has upheld two first-degree murder convictions of a man who stabbed his girlfriend to death, incidentally causing the death of their nine-month unborn child.
The court upheld precedent that an unborn baby capable of living outside of the mother’s body is a person under state law when it comes to homicide.
The same court recognizes abortion as a fundamental right under the state constitution.
Pro-lifers say the two principles don’t connect logically.
BOSTON — A Massachusetts court ruling upholding a murder conviction in the death of a near-full-term unborn child has pro-lifers crying double standard.
The state’s highest court has upheld two first-degree murder convictions against a man who stabbed his pregnant girlfriend to death: one for the woman and one for what the court called “their child.”
The court followed its precedent in a 1984 case (Commonwealth v. Cass) in which a driver was convicted of motor vehicle homicide after his vehicle struck a woman who was eight and a half months pregnant, resulting in the death of her child. In that case — upheld last week — the court said “a viable fetus is a person” when it comes to the state’s reckless-driving law.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
In a Nutshell
The highest state court in Massachusetts has upheld two first-degree murder convictions of a man who stabbed his girlfriend to death, incidentally causing the death of their nine-month unborn child.
The court upheld precedent that an unborn baby capable of living outside of the mother’s body is a person under state law when it comes to homicide.
The same court recognizes abortion as a fundamental right under the state constitution.
Pro-lifers say the two principles don’t connect logically.
BOSTON — A Massachusetts court ruling upholding a murder conviction in the death of a near-full-term unborn child has pro-lifers crying double standard.
The state’s highest court has upheld two first-degree murder convictions against a man who stabbed his pregnant girlfriend to death: one for the woman and one for what the court called “their child.”
The court followed its precedent in a 1984 case (Commonwealth v. Cass) in which a driver was convicted of motor vehicle homicide after his vehicle struck a woman who was eight and a half months pregnant, resulting in the death of her child. In that case — upheld last week — the court said “a viable fetus is a person” when it comes to the state’s reckless-driving law.
Continued below.
‘Abortion Distortion’: Pro-Lifers Wonder Why an Unborn Child Is a Murder Victim in Stabbing Death but a Non-Person in Abortion
A Massachusetts murder case highlights what critics decry as a double standard.
