So I'm a few weeks late, I know, but this is just insane!
A loophole in state law is preventing Campbell County investigators from charging a woman they say killed her newborn baby.
Deputies were called to a home in the 1200 block of Lone Jack Road in Rustburg around 11:00a.m. Friday. The caller said a woman in her early 20s was in labor. When deputies arrived, they discovered the baby had actually been born around 1:00a.m., about ten hours earlier. Investigators say the baby was already dead when deputies got there.
Investigators tell WSLS the baby’s airway was still blocked. They say the baby was under bedding and had been suffocated by her mother. Investigators say because the mother and baby were still connected by the umbilical cord and placenta, state law does not consider the baby to be a separate life. Therefore, the mother cannot be charged.
“In the state of Virginia as long as the umbilical cord is attached and the placenta is still in the mother, if the baby comes out alive the mother can do whatever she wants to with that baby to kill it.“, says Investigator Tracy Emerson. “She could shoot the baby, stab the baby. As long as it’s still attached to her in some form by umbilical cord or something it’s no crime in the state of Virginia.“
The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office and Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office worked unsuccessfully to get the law changed after another baby died in the county in a similar case. Emerson says they asked two delegates and one state senator to take the issue up in the General Assembly. He says the three lawmakers refused because they felt the issue was too close to the abortion issue.
Emerson tells us there’s a double standard with the law. If someone other than the mother harms a baby still attached to the mother, that person can be charged.
The baby’s grandmother was home and was the one who called 911. Police say she will not be charged because the baby was born in the middle of the night and the grandmother did not know until late morning. Investigators tell us the baby’s father was upset when he showed up at the home after deputies.
“He was very upset. I think the grandparents were upset. I believe everyone was upset, except for the person who should have been upset, the mother.“, says Emerson.
Emerson tells us the woman knew she was pregnant and had received prenatal care. He says the baby was full-term, due Tuesday. The medical examiner says the baby was born healthy. An autopsy is being performed. The baby’s body will then be released to the family.
jamin_za wrote:The baby is better off dead than stuck with that for a mother.
Sometimes a think they should put prophylactics in our drinking water and if you want to reproduce you should have to apply for a permit.
Which raises the question of who issues the permits and based on what criteria....
MOOD - Thirsty
A surprising amount of modern pseudoscience is coming out of the environmental sector. Perhaps it should not be so surprising given that environmentalism is political rather than scientific.
Timothy Casey
doo_much wrote:Which raises the question of who issues the permits and based on what criteria....
Government organization issues permits...
Based on the financial stability of the parent(s)
Physical and Mental health
Criminal record
Did you actually think before you typed?
MOOD - Thirsty
A surprising amount of modern pseudoscience is coming out of the environmental sector. Perhaps it should not be so surprising given that environmentalism is political rather than scientific.
Timothy Casey
Tell me about it. I know of a couple who tried desperately for YEARS to adopt (and came close enough as having a child living with them for two weeks before it was declined), but eventually they were turned down, not on a financial basis, but because the wife has kidney problems (already having had one removed) and it would be too much trauma for the adopted child if the adopted mother died.
So - it is better for her to live in a loveless orphanage than experience a loving family for an indefinite period of time The way the world works - no logic!
Adoption agencies seem happier to send children overseas than keep them here. A family in our church ran a children's home on their plot for a couple of years, and every child, except one, who was adopted was adopted by foreign families. (The local one was adopted by a family that already had three children.)
There is not a shortage of prospective parents wanting to adopt a baby - the problem comes with the older children! I was adopted at birth, and my parents had to wait 3 years before there was a baby available for them (ie ME!) My father actually was sick with cancer when the got me. That provided him with the will to live! (I now have a baby son - I cannot be ill - I must raise my son!)
I get very emotional when the subject of abortion/adoption is raised. It is frightening that if I was conceived 20 years later, there was a good chance that my biological mother would have had an abortion! So I would not be here! That is a shocking thought!
With regards to the scrutinizing the prospective parents has to go through - my parents felt like they were under cross-examination in a court. All the details of their lives were examined, photographs taken etc. (Yes, I even look like my adopted father's side of the family - apparently this is so that the child will "fit in") That raises suspicion in my mind about inter-racial adoptions.
On a different, more personal note: I cannot understand why I have NO need to meet, or know more about my biological father. I would love to see my biological mother, more out of curiosity than anything else!
You were fortunate that you were adopted by a loving family. I agree what this mother did was despicable and should not be allowed to get away with it. But what of the babies that are dumped in dustbins, left in the veld, or left with people who abuse them?
If you cannot handle the consequences - DON'T DO IT! Even with precautions there still is a chance of pregnancy. Sex was never meant as entertainment - it is meant to produce babies!
(I know I may sound a bit naive, but this is how I feel!)
Thanx Trib! Yes, I feel VERY fortunate. Sometimes it makes me sad to realise that if they did not adopt me, I could have grown up in an orphanage! My parents were not rich, but they made up for that by spending time with us. (NB not quality time - no TIME!) It also helped that my dad was branch manager for the local co-op. We lived on a station, but were the only family living there with about 200 labourers. So we could drop in at my dad's work at any time. He was always available. Why do we only realise how blessed those moments were, after it is too late?
It is fine to feel that way but it doesn't change the fact that people are falling pregnant when they are not ready for the child or when they don't want the baby. Abstinence is not going to be a solution, and it seems that neither is protection. Girls as young as 9 are having babies. There are not enough people to adopt all these unexpected children - and most of those that do want to adopt don't meet the necessary requirements. So the children grow up in orphanages, with relatives or alone. They endure some of the hardest experiences.
Tribble wrote:It is fine to feel that way but it doesn't change the fact that people are falling pregnant when they are not ready for the child or when they don't want the baby. Abstinence is not going to be a solution, and it seems that neither is protection. Girls as young as 9 are having babies. There are not enough people to adopt all these unexpected children - and most of those that do want to adopt don't meet the necessary requirements. So the children grow up in orphanages, with relatives or alone. They endure some of the hardest experiences.
Which still doesn't condone abortion IMHO.
MOOD - Thirsty
A surprising amount of modern pseudoscience is coming out of the environmental sector. Perhaps it should not be so surprising given that environmentalism is political rather than scientific.
Timothy Casey
Tribble wrote:So you would rather the baby go through the horrors that life has in store for it?
jamin_za wrote:
doo_much wrote:Which still doesn't condone abortion IMHO.
I'm all for abortion.
If you don't want your baby, chances are good society doesn't either - since we'll end up paying to feed and cloth it when we evetually jail it.
I guess this is what they call a difference of opinion?
MOOD - Thirsty
A surprising amount of modern pseudoscience is coming out of the environmental sector. Perhaps it should not be so surprising given that environmentalism is political rather than scientific.
Timothy Casey
now that is just sick!
The way the world works - no logic!
