Did you know that US women are currently facing prison time for murder after suffering miscarriages and stillbirths?
At least 38 states have introduced “foetal homicide laws” and around 300 women in South Carolina alone have been arrested for suspected actions that may or may not have occurred during pregnancy.
In one case, a woman’s unborn baby was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome and she declined the doctor’s suggestion to abort. Her baby died after a premature birth and six months later she was arrested at home and retroactively charged with “chemical endangerment” during pregnancy. She denied taking drugs and there was no evidence, but she faces 10 years behind bars.
This casts a strange dynamic to the abortion debate but the excuse for such criminalization is unfairly placed on advocacy groups who seek to redefine laws to state that life begins at conception. Abortions are generally legal and such groups would not want to encourage more by having women face threat of prison for going full term versus early termination. These laws hold women liable for pregnancy outcomes and punish for suspected intentions. They can voluntarily terminate but if a miscarriage occurs it’s a “depraved-heart murder”?

Read More: http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/07/02/miscarriage-face-prison-time-for-murder/