Alabama Supreme Court Declares A Fetus Is A Child
Jessica Pielko – January 18, 2013Anti-choice activists are not simply trying to pass abortion restrictions through state legislatures, they are trying to expand existing criminal statutes to create multiple pathways for recognition of fetal rights. The latest example of this strategy comes courtesy of the Alabama Supreme Court and an opinion that held a fetus should be considered a child and therefore is protected under the state’s chemical endangerment law.
The ruling came as the court upheld the convictions of two women whose used illegal drugs while they were pregnant. The two women had been charged with chemically endangering their children in violation of an Alabama law that makes it a crime to expose a child to a controlled substance, a chemical substance such as precursors for manufacturing drugs or drug paraphernalia.
The cases are themselves tragic, even without the additional failure of the criminal justice system here. Hope Ankrom and her newborn son both tested positive for cocaine when the child was born on January 31, 2000. Medical records documented Ankrom’s substance abuse during her pregnancy but she was unable to break her addiction. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, which was suspended, and she was placed on probation for one year, according to the statement.
