Stanek weekend question I: If a fetus has no right to life, how can a dad be charged with murder for attempted abortion?
A tragic story about a terrible man from thebraiser.com, October 18:
Yesterday, Joshua Woodward (pictured right), a former New York City restaurateur and partner of chef Govind Armstrong, was arraigned on charges of attempted murder after he secretly administered an abortion drug to his pregnant girlfriend, who soon miscarried their 13-week-old fetus.
Woodward, who opened Table 8 in the East Village with Armstrong back in 2008, pled not guilty, though he has a really bad case against him. As the NYDN recaps the 2009 case:
“The devastated lover told police Woodward didn’t want the baby from the moment he learned of the pregnancy and immediately asked her to get an abortion.
He became clearly upset when she told him she wanted to keep the baby, leading to a “bitter” breakup, the affidavit states.
Woodward eventually claimed he wanted to be involved, the girlfriend told police, and the pair resumed an intimate relationship.
But on multiple occasions, Woodward dipped his hand into his backpack before touching her sexually, the police affidavit states. Hours after an encounter on Oct. 18, the girlfriend felt severe cramping and miscarried the fetus, according to the affidavit.
After she noticed a “powdery white substance” in her underwear, she contacted the police, who later determined it was misoprostol, an early-stage abortion drug. It happened to be the same drug that Woodward was found carrying on him (and rubbing on the crotch of his pants) when he was subsequently arrested in a sting operation.
Table 8 closed soon after Woodward’s arrest, and Armstrong’s publicist says that they are no longer partners.
So the question is, if a preborn baby has no right to life, how can a man be charged with attempted murder after committing a wrongful abortion?
[HT: reader Frances]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
This isn’t the right charge. They are floundering for a correct charge. It should be some form of assault.
The charge makes no sense at all. He has been charged with “attempted” murder when the attempt to cause her to abort was successful! Thus, it should be murder if the unborn is considered the victim. The attempted murder might refer to the girlfriend but he wasn’t in fact trying to kill her but to cause the miscarriage.
The charge should be assault or aggravated assault.
This is one of those few times where I agree with you, DeniseNoe, I agree that it sounds like they were struggling to come up with the right charges & aggravated assault would better fit the situation, but maybe they choose attempted murder charges on the grounds had it gone wrong it could have killed her and because it has worse penalties (to give her justice for the assault & her loss). Any thoughts from anyone in law or criminal justice here?
Because they aren’t charging him for attempted murder on behalf of the dead child. The charge is on behalf of the child’s mother. Abortifacients are dangerous. They’re literally poison and if administered wrongly (or sometimes even taken correctly) can kill the mother along with her baby. I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts the person this charge refers to is the woman, not her miscarried baby.
Alice says:
October 20, 2012 at 9:46 am
Because they aren’t charging him for attempted murder on behalf of the dead child. The charge is on behalf of the child’s mother. Abortifacients are dangerous. They’re literally poison and if administered wrongly (or sometimes even taken correctly) can kill the mother along with her baby. I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts the person this charge refers to is the woman, not her miscarried baby.
(Denise) It really does not make sense. Abortifacients might make the girl or woman sick but they are very unlikely to kill HER. They are created to cause her to miscarry which is what this one did. She may have been harmed physically and psychologically.
This was an aggravated assault with regard to the woman.
BTW, I don’t think “Dad” is the right term to use in the title of this post. This guy was just a sperm donor, it takes a lot more (financial & emotional support & positive contributions in the woman’s & child’s life) to earn the title “Dad” or “Father”.
Welcome to the wonderful, wild world of solipsism!
In the wacky world of solipsism, the fetus has no objective character whatsoever. Rather, a woman is unilaterally able to confer personhood, or unpersonhood, by her word alone. And whatever status she gives the fetus, the law tells her she is correct. Even if she changes her mind several times.
It’s a line of reasoning with all sorts of unfortunate implications. Even pro-choice folks don’t like it. That’s why they fought tooth and nail against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. They’re not comfortable allowing any fetus the privilege of personhood, even if the mother approves.
If anyone is looking for logic in the was the legal system handles babies, stop now while you still have at least some of your sanity.
This is sick. This man should be charged with premeditated first degree murder because that is what it is. People have no regard for human life and will do whatever “conveniences them”
Again, WHAT something is depends on how someone else feels about it.
… if a preborn baby has no right to life, how can a man be charged with attempted murder after committing a wrongful abortion?
Because he is male, and the abortion industry is heavily into promoting misandry. If a man walks away from a pregnant woman and his child, he is (correctly) labelled a deadbeat dad. When a woman willingly consents to the killing of her unborn child, she is NOT labelled a “killer mom.” She is merely “pro-choice.”
Searle, the maker of Cytotec, the first U.S. brand of misoprostil, sent letters to all prescribers admonishing them not to use the drug to induce labor or abortion. They did not consider it to be safe. It’s now used around the world and sold on the black market for both purposes, because women are second class citizens almost everywhere, and they accept medical abuse as routine.
Misoprostil dosing is difficult. It has different potency with respect to its activity on uterine smooth muscle, and this varies with the gestation time. Larger doses are required to induce contractions early in pregnancy. Very tiny doses are needed in the later term. The dose range is HUGE.
There’s no wonder that the manufacturer did not want to take on the liability for ruptured uteruses and concomitant loss of life.
Apparently it’s not a uterus, but Schrödinger’s Box.
The fact is that this whole thing makes no sense. The way this question is phrased makes no sense. This wasn’t an “attempted abortion.” It was apparently a successful abortion. It was done against the will of the pregnant woman and without her knowledge. That makes this a case of some degree of assault. I agree that he should be prosecuted but attempted murder just doesn’t make any sense. As I previously pointed out, if you consider the unborn the victim, this wasn’t just an “attempt.”
There’s an old saying that goes something like, “Any male can be a father. It takes a man to be a Dad.” He shouldn’t be called “dad.”
This is all so disgusting and sad. He should be charged with murder for the fetus AND aggravated assault for the mother. After all, they are clearly both victims in this instance.
JDC says:
October 21, 2012 at 10:19 pm
This is all so disgusting and sad. He should be charged with murder for the fetus AND aggravated assault for the mother. After all, they are clearly both victims in this instance.
(Denise) As much as you may dislike it, the fact is that abortion is legal in this country. When it was illegal, abortionists and women who had abortions were not prosecuted for murder but for the specific crime of abortion. The penalties for illegal abortion were not nearly as severe as those for murder.
This man is NOT a “Dad.” Using that word is abhorrent.
He should be prosecuted but murder makes no legal sense.
Aggravated assault is the crime and he deserves to serve time for it.
She should sue the living crud out of that idiot. I hope he finds Jesus in prison…