Lawyer argues fetus of jailed pregnant woman is being illegally detained.
By The Guardian - February 23rd, 2023
Okay, this is treasure trove of hot button issues, and in my desire to make everyone happy, this gave me pause because of the quagmire fetal rights is becoming. Basically, a woman in Florida is pregnant and being held without bail awaiting trial and alleges she is not getting adequate care and the fetus is being jailed unconstitutionally. So many issues to unpack in this one.
First, there is the can of worms that is giving an unborn fetus the same rights as an autonomous, living person. I'm not sure how I feel about this movement and find it hard to discuss because it is such an emotional issue for so many people, including myself. I think the first thing we can do is stop doing the Either-Or argument with fetus and mother. Mom and fetus have equal weight until it has a bearing on the economy and governmental health, then the mother gets precedent because she is an avowed citizen of the United States, while the fetus has no choice, nor can it make one. This is one suggestion, but I don't expect anyone to take it seriously. I can already see some of the flaws...which, by the way, any plan will have, so people need to stop thinking their policies are perfect or better than others when they all tend to miss a large part of the whole picture.
Moving away from abortion laws, there is the issue of bail and being pregnant in prison. I think that if a woman is pregnant and not convicted, she should not be in jail and bail should be waived. If you've ever been pregnant, and ever been to a jail, you know that this is cruel and unusual punishment all by itself. Thinking of the woman's right to a speedy trial, she's done half her pregnancy without the trial starting. This happens to people throughout the country and it is unconstitutional based on both the 6th and 8th amendments. Regardless of the court cases that have come through history to weaken these rights, they remained enshrined in our Constitution, and should be fought for. Months in jail is not the right a speedy trial, and bail disproportionately affects the poor, making debtors and homeless where there didn't have to be. The holding in prison doesn't just negatively affect moms-to-be, but a whole community of providers who cannot fend for themselves or their family while they are languishing in prison awaiting trial.
I am going to do an economic side note on this one: People who know they have a trial and will not run need to be given the opportunity to work and coordinate with their community so their children and family members will be looked out for in their absence. These alleged criminals could work without fear and continue their lives while they await trial; a privilege enjoyed by the wealthy alone. People in jail funnel taxpayer money to the private prison corporations, instead of the individuals contributing tax dollars to the community and putting into the economy for several months. This means that on an individual and national level, bail is draining resources from the working people and funneling them to the corporations. Friendly reminder that corporations exist to provide dividends for their shareholders, not to take care of people. In fact, those two ends are often at cross-purposes. This leads me to the idea that industries that are tied to human survival and well-being (food, water, prison, healthcare) should not be run by amoral entities (which is what corporations are: they might be run by people, but they are not human and have no moral obligation to consider anything but the "almighty dollar"). In the case in the article, this is made clear by the lack of care and consideration afforded the pregnant woman and her unborn child.
Another musing I got from the fetal rights portion of the article was the right to life is tied to the right to die: another controversial topic. If a fetus is not going to survive the birth, whether or not the mother is in danger, isn't it human to prevent the suffering that would be all the fetus would know in its short life. The fetus cannot advocate for itself; that's the mother's job. If the fetus will survive, but the mother won't, then not only did the baby murder the mother with the help of doctors, but that child is an orphan, which automatically dramatically reduces positive outcomes in its lifetime. We are condemning women to death and children to pathological childhoods; why is this what we're fighting for? If we were as humane to dying people as we are to dying animals, we would have right to die laws that would protect people and families from economic and social hardships that no one would wish on their fellow humans.
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