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From: barry@ames.UUCP (Kenn Barry)
Newsgroups: net.abortion
Subject: Re: test
Message-ID: <857@ames.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 8-Mar-85 02:44:36 EST
Article-I.D.: ames.857
Posted: Fri Mar  8 02:44:36 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Mar-85 05:29:42 EST
References: <311@muddcs.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: NASA-Ames Research Center, Mtn. View, CA
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[I am not a lawyer]

> If killing an unborn child is murder, then should people who
> murder a female of childbearing age be tried for two murders instead
> of one, to take into account that she might have been pregnant at the time?

	It would depend on whether she *was* pregnant or not, I would
think. This could surely be determined post-mortem. If she *were* pregnant,
I'm pretty sure that the perpetrator could be tried for two murders. I
recall hearing of a case recently (here in California) where a mugger
who had attacked a pregnant woman and caused the death of the fetus, was
being charged with murder of that fetus.
	This is not necessarily inconsistant with abortions being legal.
If anything, it's just one more illustration of the fact that the legal
"humanity" of a human fetus doesn't have to be an either/or question.
Whatever the legal theories (or lack of same; I know of no definition
of "human" in our statutes), in practice the legal standing of a fetus seems
to be less than "human", but more than "not human". And while this may
bother some philosophers, it may still be the best answer to the question,
"is a fetus legally a human being?".

-  From the Crow's Nest  -                      Kenn Barry
                                                NASA-Ames Research Center
                                                Moffett Field, CA
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