-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
On December 23, 2010, Bei Bei Shuai, a 34 year old pregnant woman who was suffering from depression, attempted suicide, which in Indiana is not a crime. Friends found her in time and persuaded her to go to the hospital and get help. Six days later, the baby was delivered, prematurely, by cesarean section and four days after that the newborn girl died.
On March 14, 2011, the State of Indiana arrested Shuai, jailed her, and charged her with murder and attempted feticide.
This case raises serious concerns about violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Had Shuai not been pregnant, she would not have been charged with any crime. Do pregnant women have the same rights as non-pregnant women?
If this case is allowed to stand, any pregnant woman who puts her own life or heath at risk, can be criminally prosecuted. A pregnant woman with a pre-existing medical condition, that poses a threat to her health during pregnancy, could be charged with murder if she miscarries or attempted feticide if she carries to term. A pregnant woman with a dangerous job also subjects her fetus to the same danger she faces.
There have been numerous cases wherein states have tried to use child abuse laws and child endangerment laws to prosecute women who had substance abuse problems during their pregnancy. These cases have been dismissed. These cases waste precious taxpayer monies, however, they do garner a lot of publicity for the prosecuting attorneys.
Ambitious prosecutors are using these kind of cases to further their political careers, at the expense of the women they target.
H/T: ACLU, Amicus Brief (pdf).
Catch this shit……
Elaine you might see the futile efforts of sometimes doing the correct thing…
Police arrest Lansing parents in attack on crossing guard
Police arrested the parents of a 7-year-old Lansing boy Friday after a dispute Wednesday between the boy and another 7-year-old resulted in the beating of a 73-year-old crossing guard Thursday morning.
Lansing police arrested the 7-year-old’s mother, 29-year-old Shareka Sharrett McKinney, in connection with an attack on crossing guard James Thompson. The boy’s father, Darell Livingston, 26, turned himself in at about 8:30 p.m. at the south precinct.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110402/NEWS01/104020319/1002/NEWS01
Woosty,
I like the rent idea! Who pays the rent? The Biological father or the State since they want it to stay in residence there?!
That should be “a” not “an”!
Elaine,
I know, but I think there has to be an major change in this country before women’s rights are going to be fully protected. It will take more female attorneys, prosecutors, state and Federal politicians, before women are afforded the same rights as men.
rafflaw,
I was actually being sarcastic–and attempting to show how ridiculous it would be if the tables were turned and women were trying to take control over men’s bodies via law and the criminal justice system.
Could the State of Indiana be a named defendant in a murder case if they denied the woman affordable prenatal care??~rafflaw
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could a woman who was raped charge the fetus with unlawfull trespass? Could the woman charge the fetus rent? After all, when we look at the womb sans the woman…it is her property after all…
Thats what I am kind of afraid of….and if Bush had not have had family….well he’d be in the same position a lot of American are in…
OS,
Good catch! I wonder why Assange was charged??? Elaine, I think female prosecutors might help, but if the radical right wing religious males are still making the policy and laws, it may not help. I think the best course of action is to stay out of Indiana!
Is there any evidence that the suicide attempt caused the premature birth and subsequent death of the fetus? Also,
if a pregnant woman can be held criminally responsible for not obtaining prenatal care which leads to the death of the fetus: how does that tie in to the Afffordable Care Act that the Right wants to defund and to the planned cuts to Planned Parenthood? Could the State of Indiana be a named defendant in a murder case if they denied the woman affordable prenatal care??
Ay, Bush put on the fast track but we are not there, yet. With the draconian budget cuts that the republicans are insisting on we might get there rather quickly. They have to destroy the unions before their mission is complete.
Wootsy,
Are you sure we are not back there yet?
Elaine M. 1, April 2, 2011 at 11:09 am
yes, what you said!
AY, I think it would be an interesting question in a 3rd world country…a country ruled by despots, but here in the US, it is just another ugly travesty.
Elaine, the only man I have heard of that is being prosecuted on that kind of charge is Julian Assange. As you recall, he was the subject of an international manhunt for failing to use a condom, not once but twice!
So, let me catch this correctly….provided women are still allowed to work, receive pay (maybe not the same rate), work for Massey or Koch….will they still be subject to the same legal standard being implemented…..Hence, would working for one of these outfits make the owners vicariously liable? Nah, they just provide the opportunity for employment…..really it is an interesting question if you think about it…
Do pregnant women have the same rights as non-pregnant women?
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Does anyone have any rights anymore? Is it a ‘right’ if it is selectively protected?….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dxe20TlNeo&feature=player_embedded#at=27
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dxe20TlNeo?rel=0&w=640&h=390%5D
The woman was suffering from depression! She should be receiving medical treatment. She shouldn’t be charged with a crime.
What we need in this country is more female prosecutors charging men with crimes for the careless and wanton dispersal of sperm and the impregnation of members of the opposite sex who may not be prepared for or may be unfit for motherhood.
The Equal Protection argument sounds like a non-starter. Pregnant and non-pregnant women are obviously not similarly situated with regard to feticide.
If the Indiana law doesn’t make any exception in their feticide law for the mother, and attempt includes substantial certainty rather than just intent, the woman appears guilty of attempted feticide.
One might use the Supreme Court’s abortion precedent to argue that the State only has a valid interest in prosecuting the mother after the fetus is viable.
The murder charge follows the same logic, but seems much more out of line with what happened—it’s probably designed to force the woman to accept a plea deal.
Brought to you by another mean white republican male prosecutor, David Rimstidt. Marion County has long been a republican stronghold. Dallas County with its democratic liberal african american district attorney looks pretty good by comparison.
I think laws against suicide are stupid and benefit only private prisons who can fill up beds. Fill up beds with people who are already so depressed they felt like committing suicide in the first place. So by all means, let’s help their depression by adding legal trouble and possible incarceration to their problems.
As to this law, it hearkens back to the laws of Nazi Germany which criminalized abortions by healthy “Aryan” women.
Our lawmakers are increasingly nothing but evil corporatist morons.
Nal,
Things just keep getting scarier and scarier for women in this country. Aren’t there enough REAL criminals for these ambitious prosecutors to bring to justice? Pretty soon pregnant women will have NO rights in some states.