Fetal Homicide

Fetal Homicide
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Fetal Homicide
The law defines fetal homicide or feticide as willingly killing a fetus, and the act is considered a crime in almost all countries in the world. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (2018), as of May 2018, 38 states had passed fetal homicide laws, 29 among them applying the laws in the early stages of pregnancy. This paper discusses standards used to determine whether a fetus is a person, why it is essential to classify killing a fetus differently, and the conflict between fetal homicide and abortion rights.
During birth, it is essential to find the state in which a child has been born, whether it was alive or dead. These findings dictate the different legal actions taken in case a fetus dies. Most activists against abortion have proposed legislation that separates the killing of a fetus from other murder crimes. According to Klasing (1995), the United States did not apply the fetal homicide laws in case the child was born alive and died soon after. The same approach is replicated in the current state laws stating that after a child is born alive as a person, an event of their death afterward will not be regarded as a fetal homicide. However, the viability law dictates that if medics confirm that the fetus would have survived, then fetal homicide laws apply.
The conception of a fetus marks the start of life for it according to most Christian religious doctrines; however, the law recognizes life only after birth.

Therefore, considering the legislation, at conception, the fetus is yet to be a person, and fetal homicide laws would apply. As a result, most states law prohibit abortion unless the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s life.
In summary, the law clearly defines the crimes considered as fetal homicide. In most cases in the past, it was quite hard to distinguish when the fetal homicide law should be applied in the event of the death of a child after birth. However, by determining the exact time and circumstances leading to death, it has become easy to tell when the laws should be enforced. As a result, the law has ended up prohibiting abortions and only gives a medic the right to perform an abortion if the life of the mother is at stake.

References
Klasing, M. S. (1995). Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. The Death of an Unborn Child: Jurisprudential Inconsistencies in Wrongful Death, Criminal Homicide, and Abortion Cases,22(3), 2nd ser., 933-979. Retrieved November 11, 2018, from HYPERLINK “https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=plr” https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=plr.
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2018, May 1). State Laws on Fetal Homicide and Penalty-Enhancement for Crimes Against Pregnant Women. Retrieved November 11, 2018, from HYPERLINK “http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/fetal-homicide-state-laws.aspx” http://www.ncsl.org/research/health/fetal-homicide-state-laws.aspx