Quote:
Court Splits Abortion and Fetus Murder
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Tex., Nov. 22 (AP) — Texas laws allow the killing of a fetus to be prosecuted as murder, regardless of the stage of development, but the laws do not apply to abortions, the state’s highest criminal court has ruled.
The Court of Criminal Appeals announced the ruling Wednesday, rejecting an appeal by Terence Lawrence, who said his right to due process was violated when he was prosecuted for two murders in the killings of a woman and her 4- to 6-week-old fetus.
The court ruled unanimously that state laws declaring a fetus an individual with protections do not conflict with the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade that women have a constitutional right to abortion.
“The Supreme Court has emphasized that states may protect human life not only once the fetus has reached viability but ‘from the outset of the pregnancy,’” the court said.
Mr. Lawrence was convicted of capital murder and given life in prison for the 2004 shooting of his girlfriend, Antwonyia Smith, and the couple’s unborn child.
His appeal argued he should not have been prosecuted for the death of the fetus because it had not been viable. Supreme Court precedent says states have no compelling interest to interfere before a fetus can live out of the womb, he said. The Texas court said abortion precedent was based on the premise that a woman wants the procedure.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Tex., Nov. 22 (AP) — Texas laws allow the killing of a fetus to be prosecuted as murder, regardless of the stage of development, but the laws do not apply to abortions, the state’s highest criminal court has ruled.
The Court of Criminal Appeals announced the ruling Wednesday, rejecting an appeal by Terence Lawrence, who said his right to due process was violated when he was prosecuted for two murders in the killings of a woman and her 4- to 6-week-old fetus.
The court ruled unanimously that state laws declaring a fetus an individual with protections do not conflict with the United States Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade that women have a constitutional right to abortion.
“The Supreme Court has emphasized that states may protect human life not only once the fetus has reached viability but ‘from the outset of the pregnancy,’” the court said.
Mr. Lawrence was convicted of capital murder and given life in prison for the 2004 shooting of his girlfriend, Antwonyia Smith, and the couple’s unborn child.
His appeal argued he should not have been prosecuted for the death of the fetus because it had not been viable. Supreme Court precedent says states have no compelling interest to interfere before a fetus can live out of the womb, he said. The Texas court said abortion precedent was based on the premise that a woman wants the procedure.
