The War Over Fetal Rights

MSNBC.COM ^ | 6/1/03 | Debra Rosenberg

[GirlyGirl2003]

The War Over Fetal Rights By Debra Rosenberg, Newsweek It was nearly Valentine's Day, 1992, when Tracy Marciniak's estranged husband, Glenndale Black, showed up at her Wisconsin apartment. A 28-year-old mother of two, Marciniak was expecting another baby in just five days. But the night was hardly romantic. Within hours, the two argued and Black punched her in the stomach. "IT FELT LIKE IT had gone all the way through me," says Marciniak, now 39. The baby, whom she'd already named Zachariah, had seemed fine on a prenatal visit just the day before, she says. But when she arrived at the hospital that night, doctors couldn't find his heartbeat. Marciniak pulled through, but the baby did not. Because Zachariah was not considered a "born person," prosecutors could not charge Black with homicide. They attempted to try him under an old state law banning illegal abortion, but Black's lawyer argued that the baby would have been stillborn anyway. In the end, a jury convicted Black of reckless injury and sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Though Marciniak has long supported abortion rights, she became furious when she discovered that the law didn't protect her unborn son--and that women's groups wouldn't back her quest for a state law punishing his killer. Now she is allied with the National Right to Life, appearing in an ad for the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. "There were two victims," Marciniak says. "He got away with murder." See the rest of the article here: Click

[GirlyGirl2003]

The Question: Do The Unborn Have Rights?

The Answer: Would You Deny This Child The Right To Life?

Great Websites:

Matt Drudge

Tracey Report

Rush Limbaugh

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

Though Marciniak has long supported abortion rights, she became furious when she discovered that the law didn't protect her unborn son--and that women's groups wouldn't back her quest for a state law punishing his killer.

Sorry, babe. You can't have it both ways. Either killing a fetus is homicide, no matter who kills it, or it isn't homicide, no matter who kills it.

[Brad’s Gramma]

The Question: Do The Unborn Have Rights?

You can judge a society by the way it treats it's most helpless.

[buffyt]

It is not a choice...
It is a child!!!!!!!!

[Jim Noble]

In science class, the kids can hold a robin's egg and be taught that there is a baby bird inside.

Nobody refers to the baby bird as a "glob of tissue" or a "lump of cells". Even to say it sounds absurd.

What's the problem with baby humans?

[afraidfortherepublic]

Bump

[afraidfortherepublic]

This is a picture of Sam Amas at 3 1/2 in front of his home. He is the "fetus" whose tiny hand reached out from the womb to clutch the surgeon's finger in that picture and who captured the hearts of millions.

I rest my case.

[Mr. Silverback]

Welcome to FreeRepublic, GirlyGirl!

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[jwalsh07]

Is this a person?

[buffyt]

GOD BLESS LITTLE SAM!!!

It is good to see our prayers answered!

[buffyt]

Looks like a human being to me. Dr. Ron Paul is a congressman, a friend of mine, and a doctor. He told me that the Constitution promises us the RIGHT TO LIFE, Liberty and the PURSUIT of Happiness. First and foremost is the RIGHT TO LIFE.

[jwalsh07]

First and foremost is the RIGHT TO LIFE.

Well buffyt, I don't always agree with Ron PAul but I sure the heck do here.

[cpforlife.org]

Special PING for MHG!!!

RE: this article: The War Over Fetal Rights, go to the actual article for an on-line talk this Wednesday. After reading the whole article, I think you should definitely be there MHG.

Submit your questions to Claudia Kalb on the rights of the unborn,(in advance at the article) then join her for a talk on Wednesday, June 4, at noon ET .

[cpforlife.org]

Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

[MHGinTN]

I wonder how many pro-abortion, 'women's right to liberty trumps a fetus's right to life' people can just two things the woman's body does in a pregnancy, re the unborn fetus?

[cpforlife.org]

Dear GirlyGirl2003,

Howdy and Welcome to Free Republic!!

from your friends at

[votelife]

Dear President Bush,
With the Surpeme Court session getting ready to close, it may well be time for perhaps the most important domestic decision of your presidency: the appointment of a Supreme Court Justice(s). The main reason why I supported you in 2000 and why I wanted Daschle out of power in 02 (and 04) has to do with the courts. I want America courts to interpret law, not write law. During your presidential campaign you said Thomas and Scalia were your two model justices. Those are excellent models. The High Court needs more like them. Clarence Thomas recently said to students that the tough cases were when what he wanted to do was different from what the law said. And he goes by the law. This should be a model philosophy for our justices. Your father, President Bush lost his reelection campaign for 3 main reasosn, as far as I can see. 1. he broke the no new taxes pledge 2. David Souter 3. Clinton convinced people we were in a Bush recession (which we had already come out of by the time Clinton was getting sworn in)

I urge you to learn from all three of these: 1. on taxes, you're doing great. Awesome job on the tax cut. 2. good job so far on judicial appointments. I want to see more of a fight for Estrada, Owen, and Pickering, but I commend you on your nominations. 3. by staying engaged in the economic debate you'll serve yourself well

I have been thoroughly impressed with your handling of al Queida, Iraq, and terrorism. You have inspired confidence and have shown great leadership.

But I want to remind you that your Supreme Court pick(s) will be with us LONG after you have departed office. I urge you to avoid the tempation to find a "compromise" pick. Go for a Scalia or Thomas. Don't go for an O'Connor or Kennedy. To be specific, get someone who is pro-life. Roe v Wade is one of the worst court decisions I know of, and it's the perfect example of unrestrained judicial power.

I know the temptation will be tremendous on you to nominate a moderate. But remember who your true supporters are. I am not a important leader or politician. I am "simply" a citizen who has been an enthusiatic supporter of you. I am willing to accept compromise in many areas of government but I will watch your Court nomiantions extremely closely. What the Senate Dems are doing right now is disgusting, but as the President you have the bully pulpit to stop it. Democrats will back down if you turn up serious heat on them.

Moreover, I think public opinion is shifting towards the pro-life position. Dems will want you to nominate a moderate, but almost all will vote against you anyways. Pro-choice Repubs will likely still vote for you if you nominate a Scalia, after all, you campaigned on it. So Mr. President, I urge you to stick with your campaign statements and nominate justices who believe in judicial restraint, like Scalia and Thomas.

Happy Memorial Day and may God bless you and your family.

[cpforlife.org]

Hi all,

check out:
Live Talk: Rights of the Unborn at:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/nw/talk/talk.asp?lt=060403_kalb

With the Laci Peterson case making headlines and Congress poised to tackle both the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and the ban on partial-birth abortion this month, fetal rights have found new prominence on the public stage. Recent dramatic breakthroughs in fetal and reproductive medicine only add to the confusion. With doctors joining sperm and egg in a petri dish, and sometimes freezing the leftovers to be implanted later in a woman's uterus, the question of when life begins takes on new resonance. Abortion foes hope to take advantage of the new technology and sympathetic political environment to win fresh support. So far, though, a woman's right to choose remains the law, and the fight over fetal and embryonic rights remains in a delicate stalemate. Can the law can protect fetuses without eroding the rights their mothers fought so hard to win? Join us for a Live Talk on Wednesday, June 4, at noon ET with Claudia Kalb about new medical breakthroughs and rights for the unborn. Submit questions anytime. Submit questions any time.


New: During Live Talks, you can chat with the other audience members in MSNBC's News Chat.



Claudia Kalb, who works primarily on health stories for the magazine, was named general editor in June 1999. She has just returned from a 2001-2002 John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. Before being promoted to general editor, Kalb had been an associate editor since September 1998 and a correspondent in the Boston bureau, where she had covered general assignments in the New England area since December 1997. Before that, she served as a reporting intern and then a reporter, both in the Boston bureau. She has also been a researcher in New York and a reporting intern in NEWSWEEK's Chicago bureau. Kalb's recent reporting on medical and health issues has included many cover stories. Prior to joining NEWSWEEK in 1994, Kalb worked as a researcher and reporter at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center in New York. She has also interned at the Associated Press, Boston Magazine and the Jakarta Post in Indonesia, where she published several educational books.

[Victoria Delsoul]

With the recent murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, nearly 9 months old, abortion-rights supporters are finding it increasingly difficult to claim credibly that a fetus just a few weeks, or even days, from delivery is not entitled to at least some protections under the law-but they vigorously argue against such laws anyway, fearing that giving a fetus rights will lead to the collapse of abortion protections. "If they are able to make fetuses people in law with the same standing as women and men, then Roe will be moot," says Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt.

Unbelievable. These people are so frightened the laws would change in favor of the unborn they can't acknowledge that a fetus is a child distinct from his/her mother.

If a drunk driver hits a pregnant women and the baby dies, he or she can be convicted of manslaughter. Even if that mother was on her way to an abortion clinic. How can you base someone's worth on only one thing - how other people view them?

If an abortion is attempted and the child survives (and this does happen), doctors are required to try and save him or her. Along these lines, if the fetus is termed viable, the abortionist is required to choose the method of abortion which will most likely result in a live birth.
-- Teen Pregnancy Information Center

[Salvation]

Yes, the unborn have rights. Look at the death of Conner Peterson!

Life begins at conception.

Keep telling the world!