Tayshea Aiwohi was convicted of manslaughter in the death of her newborn son after it was revealed that she had smoked methamphetamine during her pregnancy. The case rallied the usual pro-choice and anti-abortion camps, with the former arguing that this sets a bad precedent for addicted mothers-to-be, who may be driven underground, while the latter claimed Aiwohi had murdered her child. Furthermore, the question of how a woman could be prosecuted for the accidental death of her newborn, while abortion itself is legal, was argued.
Yesterday, the Hawaii Supreme Court overturned her conviction, ruling that women cannot be prosecuted for the death of their children caused by detrimental conduct during pregnancy.
Also, in a move that may upset other people, the court suggested that since a fetus is not defined as a person by the law, and a woman cannot be prosecuted for terminating her own pregnancy, it follows that a person who injures a pregnant woman and causes the death of her fetus cannot be charged with manslaughter or murder...
I have been following this case in particular because to this day, no court has upheld a homicide conviction of these types of cases. However, when I was living in South Carolina, that state's Supreme Court
upheld the child negligence conviction of a woman who used cocaine during her pregnancy, leading to a miscarriage. That set a very dangerous precedent, and seeing Aiwohi convicted of manslaughter was very worrisome.
Should this conviction have been upheld, we may have seen future convictions for women who drank or smoked cigarettes during pregnancy. Maybe even for caffeinated soda. Maybe a woman who doesn't eat enough during pregnancy can be charged with negligence. If she doesn't take the right vitamins, she's negligent. If she engages in any risky activity, she's a murderer. And if she doesn't even know she's pregnant, she may still be liable.
We would probably need to have police monitor every single pregant woman to ensure that they are eating right and living right so that the future citizens will be born healthy. To streamline the process, pregnant women may simply be forced to register with the government upon conception, and submit weekly progress reports.
Let us hope we never get to that point...
Now I know many of you probably have little compassion for a methamephetamine addict like Aiwohi who smoked during her pregnancy, and while I will not defend her actions, I will argue that arresting these women will not solve the problem, and will only make it worse. The problem being, of course, the large number of poor, drug-addicted women without proper access to or knowledge of contraception, and often with boyfriends/husbands who simply choose not to protect themselves. Arresting these women will simply drive them underground...I'd rather not find dead babies in trashcans because their mothers were afraid of being arrested. I want to see a world where the pregnant and/or drug-addicted have nothing to fear from seeking help.
And, though the issue even divides pro-choice people, I feel very strongly that allowing someone like Scott Peterson to be convicted in the deaths of two people sets a bad precedent towards fetal citizenship.