Posted by tangplay on 10/16/2021 3:50:00 PM (view original):
Jail for a miscarriage?
I mean, if you believe that a fetus is a person, yeah, this makes sense. The woman in question used substances, and the court ruled that because of the substance abuse, the miscarriage happened. If you believe that a fetus is a person, then this would be involuntary manslaughter, right?
It makes no sense because deep down, most of us recognize that fetuses don't really meet our standard for personhood. But if you do believe that, I don't see why you shouldn't be OK with legal rulings that would be perfectly ideologically consistent for you.
I'll play devil's advocate here.
In this case, substance abuse led to a miscarriage. In other cases, substance abuse leads to physical and cognitive disabilities. When you also consider the substantially higher probability of children of substance abusers becoming wards of the state, substance abuse by a pregnant woman generates significant financial liability for the state and its taxpayers. The only valid reason I've ever heard for mandating things like seatbelts and motorcycle helmets is that the failure to use them puts potential liability on society at large when the people involved are uninsured or underinsured. Basically, we won't let people be irresponsible when society might have to pay for it. That same standard could easily apply here. Regardless of how you feel, specifically, about the manslaughter charge, there is a valid argument that criminalizing substance abuse during a known pregnancy is consistent with existing law.