Utah Woman Charged With Murdering Fetus

[Pie]

Originally posted by ladysycamore
Here's an example: My cousin, who is 21, last Christmas announced she was pregnant. Of course, automatically, everyone was like, "OH, that's wonderful! Congratulations!"...this pregnancy was not planned at all.

I think that is the crux of the attitude. Since most pregnancies are unplanned, society as a whole has been programmed to put the "best possible face on it", as it were. Give the expectant mother as much positive feedback as possible, you-can-do-it, be happy, you didn't just f*ck up your life.

In a perfect world, every pregnancy *would* be a choice -- not a negative one (abortion) but a positive one. I'm old enough, responsible enough, financially secure enough, have sufficient family support... I want to have a baby. Pop this pill, have sex with the man I choose, blammo, I'm knocked up.

When all women have that sort of positive control over their reproductive abilities, then we (as a society) can make it a crime to maltreat a fetus. Till that day, it has to remain a case of "morally reprehensible, legally untouchable".

One can argue that having sex itself is reproductive control. Women who abstain rarely have children.[1] But sex is recreation in our culture, and part of most couple's relationships. It is therefore untenable to tie sex to childbearing, no matter what the Religious Right says.

- Pie

[1] The pope and the bible notwithstanding.