New legal ground: Implications of charging abortionists with “murdering” fetuses
On December 28 a Maryland grand jury indicted abortionists Steven Brigham and Nicola Riley on several counts of first and second degree murder of viable, preborn babies.
Authorities began investigating Brigham and Riley in August 2010 after the two behaved suspiciously when dumping an 18-yr-old victim of a botched abortion at a hospital near Brigham’s Elkton mill (pictured below left).
Found in that mill were 35 late-term aborted babies in a freezer, many believed viable, one full-term at 36 weeks, according to an AP report.
Brigham is now locked up in New Jersey and Brigham in Utah, both awaiting extradition.
Cecil County District Attorney Ellis Rollins told Reuters, “This is probably the first case that Maryland has ever seen with this factual scenario using this statute.”
Actually this is the first case the United States has ever seen that uses a fetal homicide law to charge abortionists with murder.
To be clear, Maryland authorities did not turn to a post-viability abortion ban to prosecute Brigham and Riley, although it has one on the books, as, according to Guttmacher, 40 states do. Again, authorities are prosecuting these abortionists under Maryland’s fetal homicide law.
Due to the Supreme Court’s broad health exception, both sides have considered post-viability abortion bans generally toothless, with the exception of newly passed fetal pain laws, as yet untested at the SC level.
“But fetal homicide laws would have fangs if used against abortionists,” said Americans United for Life’s Clarke Forsythe to me in a phone interview today. “Maryland’s unprecedented application to abortion has the potential to be used more broadly and must be scaring abortion proponents silly.”
According to Forsythe, the first fetal homicide law wasn’t passed until 1970, in reaction to abortion being legalized around the country. Now 38 states have one on the books, 21 of those protecting preborn human life from the moment of conception.
These laws have been written in such a way so as to avoid the abortion issue. Many explicitly list abortion as an exception.
Nevertheless, abortion proponents have always complained the day would come when fetal homicide laws would be used in the abortion arena.
And really, rightfully so. It defies common sense to consider it murder if a boyfriend, drunk driver, or bank robber kills a preborn baby but not if an abortionist does.
Furthermore, there are usually enhanced penalties if someone is paid to kill someone else, further implicating abortionists were not abortion currently sacrosanct in U.S. law.
In other words, some fetal homicide laws carve out exceptions for a mother and her paid hit man to commit first degree murder. Up to now, pro-lifers and pro-aborts alike have had to live with this legal incoherence.
But with the prosecution of Brigham and Riley, that bridge has been crossed.
Lawyers for the two will argue the fetal homicide law cannot be applied against them, or that the charges are unconstitutional.
Meanwhile, abortion groups are hobbled. They haven’t come to the defense of Kermit Gosnell, and they aren’t coming to the defense of Brigham and Riley. They will have trouble challenging this case if and when it works its way up to the Supreme Court. Recall it is emanating from a liberal state. But the Cecil Co. district attorney has apparently determined he will have sufficient public support, since 80% of Americans consistently poll they don’t like late-term abortions.
Should these charges stick, the door will be opened for prosecutors in other states to use fetal homicide laws against abortionists, and not necessarily for worst case scenarios, since some fetal homicide laws protect babies from the moment of conception.
“The other side is surely worried about this,” said Forsythe. “They are worried about the decentralization. And they are worried they can’t control how fetal homicide laws might now be applied in 38 other states.”

Game changing!
sickos. aborted babies in a freezer. i hope they are locked up until they rot. 35 babies in a freezer? sickos!
Again, Jill?
“… the abortion issue?”
I was stunned when I read the Yahoo News article on this. These people are alleged to have begun abortion procedures in one state and completed them in another, http://news.yahoo.com/murder-charges-against-doctors-test-maryland-abortion-law-234434920.html
Go to Operation Rescue’s website and you can read the entire history of these 2 doctors and the botched abortion that got them nailed. The court records and witness testimonies are all there (or links provided for).
What you read will curl your hair.
Amber is right. This marks a legal turning point in the United States. Already for some time now the tide has been shifting towards a greater public intolerance for abortion. Now we have a case to brought before a court of law that is a foretaste of a how a post Roe v. Wade reality might look, except of course it would apply to basically all abortionists.
Hopefully we can arrive at that day before it is too late. We have already devastated our culture and our economy by the destruction of more than 50 million of our fellow citizens.
“legal incoherence” is right. This will be very interesting.
ive heard 75 million abortions to date. ive also heard 90 million.
Where’s Duck??? Duck???
Still not babies???
36 weeks?
Nope. Not a baby yet, Courtnay. LOL
I think Duck finally realized that this was not an additional hugbox for her, her opinions would be met with dissent, and she couldn’t back them up when challenged to do so, so she left. I’m sure her excuse for leaving is that we are “hateful, oppressive terrorists, omgz! American Christian Taliebanz!!!11one”
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Courtnay-
Everyone knows the tissue is not a baby until it has been “welcomed into the community of human beings”. Duuuuh! I mean, it’s so obvious! 9_9
I swear, I will never forget that preposterous nonsense, despite my best efforts. And yet, WE are looked upon as the anti-science crowd. WTF?
Now Xalisae, I am still confused on this and never did get an answer from Duck. Is being “welcomed into the community of human beings” done by slithering down a birth canal? Or is there some ceremony involved, perhaps complete with a degree or a certificate of some sort?
Its just all so confusing. I am still not sure if I myself have been “welcomed into the community of human beings”.
Good luck getting an answer from Duck. I’m still waiting on her thoughts about Gianna Jessen, who apparently was never herself “welcomed into the community of human beings”. Or…I don’t know…maybe she wasn’t an actual human being until she was adopted. Maybe she wasn’t an actual human being until she made amends with her birthmother. Who knows? Apparently not even Duck, who set the ludicrous criteria.
Alright children (or blobs of tissue depending upon your developmental stage),
To recap:
If you kill a gestating human being at the mother’s behest, that gestating human being is young enough (or you happen to be in a state they don’t care how young that gestating human being is as long as you desire to kill him/her), you have the minimum required medical qualifications, and you are not currently committing another crime at the time you kill that gestating human being, that killing is considered “a legal medical procedure”.
All other killing of gestating human beings is murder, and highly illegal.
Yeah because that makes total sense, and is not completely arbitrary. 9_9
This just in – Rockford abortion clinic to reopen. Guess the anti-choice circus will be coming back to town.
LOL X-they accuse us of being antiscience but can never quite define when the prochoice fairy wand waves and personhood is bestowed. No wonder they’re losing.
CC, it’s never too late to embrace life!
I’ll be a part of a circus over supporting this evil, insane behavior any day, CC. Yup. Call me anti-choice. Call me anti-choice to kill beautiful humans. Or just call me an anti. I don’t care. I’m proud not to support the slaughter you support.
Whadda got against circuses any way, CC? Too much laughter and joy for ya? Give CC a bucket of dead babies and she’ll squeal and clap with delight. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Something out of a horror movie.
Xalisae does a good job of explaining the incoherent legal status of the fetus. To simplify slightly, the standard is personhood by maternal acquiescence. If mommy says you’re a person, you’re a legal person. But if mommy says you’re not, the doctor can legally expel you. She can even decide that one twin is a person and the other twin is not. It’s all very postmodern and intellectual…
I still miss Duck.
My daughter was born at 33 weeks…and by c- section….
Wonder when she “magically” turned into my child???
*She’s almost five now, VERY intelligent…and almost as tall as I am! :O *
“It’s all very postmodern and intellectual…”
Yes, proaborts are so advanced and elite. Also, don’t forget how enlightened you are if you kill and support the killing of a child.
Ha, Pamela, I was born by C-section too! I must be a 21-year-old non-person. :)
Time to set legel precedence. This is the next big step to over turn rvw.
I agree with you, ninek. I’ll be back there.
…And if you’d like to join us, we’ll show you the way.
Come join us. Come join us. Come save a life and join us.
Deedle-ee, CC.
I don’t know about Duck, but Reality claimed in one thread with me that a birth certificate made you human (un)surprisingly enough she never did say what that meant for every newborn who has to wait weeks or months ofr their birth certificate or for the hundreds of thousands (millions?) Of people worldwide who never get issued a birth certificate.
My Occupy the Womb slogan:
“Please, Mom, it’s only temporary!”
cc admitted to self mutilating behavior. she never confirmed she was pregnant. i dont know why she is so pro dead baby. i guess they call us women killers now lol! yeah go to the web site ” cemetery of choice” and see how many women lay dead from legal abortions. cc you lose again.
cc your legal abortion procedure has killed all of those women in the cemetery of choice. could you please look at the site and comment on the abortionist women killers?
re: duck….she was polite but just like so many other pro deathers she is only going to debate on opinion vs fact. reality does this as he often starts his posts with ” i think” well what if your doctor confirmed you had some type of cancer and he says ” we have to begin treatment right away.” and i said “i think cancer usually goes away on its own if you eat a healthy diet blah blah blah.” okay then people with FACTS win! thats when a debate just goes in a circle because they shove their opinions down your throat. anybody is allowed an opinion…….many of my frriends and i have different opinions on different issues but abortion is not something one can debate on opinion because science tells us were right.
just like cc says “oh all of my friends are just so happy they had abortions” another opinion. perhaps they knew that if they were to tell you different you would laugh at them.” yikes cuz we all know how pro dead baby you are here cc.
Heather – AMEN!!! Tell it like it is!
2 of my kids were born at 37 weeks. I could have sworn they were people.
My son was born at 28 weeks, measured only 26 weeks, AND was a c-section, he certainly looked human enough. Still is, for that matter.
This is just so awesome. The pro-aborts must be staying out of it because they know they can’t win. They can only make themselves look worse than they already do. Hard to defend bodies of full-term babies in a freezer.
@Pro-lifist, lol, don’t forget “selectively reducing” (don’t ya just love this term) 2 of your triplets, either. The big-time feminist Amy Richards, one of Gloria Steinem’s buddies, was pregnant with triplets and couldn’t bear the thought of buying jumbo jars of mayonnaise bulk shopping for her triplets. Oh, well, let’s just abort two and keep one.