I’m sorry for your loss.
There is a world of difference between what happened to your niece and what this woman did.
This woman deliberately gave her unborn baby heroin, in a dose so strong it nearly killed the mother.
Thank you for your expression of sympathy.
We don’t consider our son’s passing a loss so much as we consider his presence for those many years a wonderful gift, happiness for him despite his condition and rewards of joy and understanding to us.
Regarding our niece, there is not a world of difference at all!
Before her final overdose, our niece had killed her own unborn child in a most brutal fashion through abortion, and it didn’t affect our Charity towards her. We did not judge her, would not have had her dehydrate to death and we do not know what went on between her and God.
8mm
I want to be perfectly clear on this matter. I DO NOT condone illicit drug use at any time and especially not during pregnancy (I am an alcoholic and have been in recovery and completely sober for over 17 years, I have seen all too many times how destructive drugs and alcohol can be).
However, and again remember that I AM NOT condoning it, use of opiates like heroin during early pregnancy DOES NOT have any significant impact on fetal development. The real risk is to the mother.
Lauren was in the first trimester of pregnancy, the baby COULD NOT have been born addicted, it is impossible. Lauren's baby was not even premature and nothing in any of the news articles I've been able to find indicates that the baby has any health issues.
Another thing that was unclear is whether or not Lauren was even aware of the pregnancy. She was only three months pregnant, it is not inconceivable that she didn't realize that she was pregnant (heroin addicts are anything but responsible).
There are a lot of things here that we don't know, and they really aren't important. Even if Lauren is allowed to live, she does have brain damage and, barring some miraculous event, she no longer has the mental capacity to want or use heroin. I agree that what she did was selfish, reckless, horrific and possibly even criminal, but to say that she should be sentenced to death is unforgiving, callous, inhumane and anything but Christian.