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At What Point in Pregnancy Does a Woman's Personhood End?

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Dark_Falcon7/20/2013 3:06:43 pm PDT

I have to ask the corollary: Does the fetus become an unborn child with some rights at some point? The law’s point has been yes, given that injuring a women sufficiently advanced in pregnancy and there by causing her to lose the baby normally incurs charges both for the injury to the mother and the death of the baby.

Given that, a law against fetal homicide isn’t a deprivation of personhood if well written. It is an admission that a woman sufficiently advanced in pregnancy has a duty not just to herself but also to her unborn child.

It must also be noted, though, that the legislature drafting such a law also has a duty to properly write the law and consider how it will play out in real life. “Model Laws” are just that, models, and they sgould not be passed directly into state law but instead amended to reflect local conditions and the work women do in that state.