Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.
Gibbs became pregnant aged 15, but lost the baby in December 2006 in a stillbirth when she was 36 weeks into the pregnancy. When prosecutors discovered that she had a cocaine habit – though there is no evidence that drug abuse had anything to do with the baby's death – they charged her with the "depraved-heart murder" of her child, which carries a mandatory life sentence.
Gibbs is the first woman in Mississippi to be charged with murder relating to the loss of her unborn baby. But her case is by no means isolated. Across the US more and more prosecutions are being brought that seek to turn pregnant women into criminals.
"Women are being stripped of their constitutional personhood and subjected to truly cruel laws," said Lynn Paltrow of the campaign National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW). "It's turning pregnant women into a different class of person and removing them of their rights." » | Ed Pilkington in New York | Friday, June 24, 2011
My comment:
Americans are losing the plot! This development is totally ridiculous, and will lead to women refusing to have babies for fear of being incarcerated. The West is already short of babies. This sinister development will exacerbate the problem.
Having a baby should be the joyous result of the expression of love between a couple. The threat of a protracted jail term looming over a pregnant woman will destroy the love and turn it into fear. Another ridiculous idea from America! – © Mark
