Mother who took drugs trying to kill baby likely won’t face child-abuse charges

Submitted by Mastodon on Mon, 2012-11-26 20:27

Story here. Excerpt:

'Katherine Hasson’s son was born addicted to cocaine and other drugs. So when Riviera Beach police said Hasson told them she took drugs while pregnant in an attempt to kill her son, they thought they had probable cause to arrest her on child-abuse charges.

But the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office said Thursday it will not file such charges against Hasson — because it can’t.

“We need a statute that specifically punishes a mother when she harms a child in utero,” Assistant State Attorney Kirk Volker said.
...
Hasson gave birth to a boy Oct. 15 at St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach. The boy was born blue in the face and motionless, and he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms. He was hooked up to a ventilator.'

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Comments

Time to either protect the unborn or euthanize these babies quickly and humanely. I prefer protecting the unborn.

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Submitted by Kris on Tue, 2012-11-27 07:02

There have been some recent cases in Colorado in which, for example, a drunk driver struck and injured a woman but killed her unborn child. NO charges were filed for killing the unborn child. So, too, the Aurora theater shooter shot a woman and caused a miscarriage--and while he faced plenty of charges, he was not charged with killing an unborn child. Legislators have tried to address the issue, but have made no progress because of fears it would affect abortion rights. It's the paradox of abortion rights: the right to abort means unborn are not protected from anyone, such as a drunk driver, who kills them. In short, in a practical sense it's perfectly legal to kill an unborn child.

I know some states have found a way to address this issue but others have not.

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Submitted by el cid on Tue, 2012-11-27 13:28