This isn't true actually. Criminal defense attorney here.
There is a specific crime for battering a woman and causing the pregnancy to terminate. The victim in this case is the mother. The death of the fetus is an element of the crime but the fetus isn't the victim.
I handled (and won) a case dealing with alleged harm to a fetus/newborn many years back and the case law treats fetuses as non-persons for the purposes of victimhood. It's been black letter law for like 30 years at this point. Back during the crack epidemic of the late 80s/early 90s, prosecutors tried to prosecute crackheads for child abuse when they gave birth to crack babies. This got shut down by the courts because fetuses aren't children/people yet so you can't abuse one.
Yeah it wasn't intended to be a comprehensive survey of every jurisdiction, mainly because I can't be bothered. If you can find an example to the contrary, please let us know.
I know in blackstone's commentaries, aborting a quickened fetus was considered manslaughter, but that is 200+ year old common law. I don't think any US jurisdictions currently deal with the situation that way (causing a miscarraige = murder of fetus).
This isn't true actually. Criminal defense attorney here.
There is a specific crime for battering a woman and causing the pregnancy to terminate. The victim in this case is the mother. The death of the fetus is an element of the crime but the fetus isn't the victim.
I handled (and won) a case dealing with alleged harm to a fetus/newborn many years back and the case law treats fetuses as non-persons for the purposes of victimhood. It's been black letter law for like 30 years at this point. Back during the crack epidemic of the late 80s/early 90s, prosecutors tried to prosecute crackheads for child abuse when they gave birth to crack babies. This got shut down by the courts because fetuses aren't children/people yet so you can't abuse one.
Is that specific to your state? I imagine there has to be a state with different laws for that.
Yeah it wasn't intended to be a comprehensive survey of every jurisdiction, mainly because I can't be bothered. If you can find an example to the contrary, please let us know.
I know in blackstone's commentaries, aborting a quickened fetus was considered manslaughter, but that is 200+ year old common law. I don't think any US jurisdictions currently deal with the situation that way (causing a miscarraige = murder of fetus).