But It Was Just a Fetus … Wasn’t It?

But It Was Just a Fetus … Wasn't It? Today in Utah, a 21 year-old man was sentenced to five years in prison for, according to the Associated Press, "beating a pregnant (17 year-old) girl to try to cause a miscarriage" after she paid him $150 to do so. The girl was seven months pregnant. Aaron Harrison, the criminal convicted of assaulting her, beat her stomach and, bizarrely, even bit her on the neck to induce a miscarriage. And although Harrison had pled guilty to "second-degree felony attempted murder, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison .. District Judge A. Lynn Payne instead sentenced him under Utah's anti-abortion statute, saying a charge of third-degree 'attempted killing of an unborn child' better fit the facts of the case." "I don't think words can describe the kind of depraved conduct you entered into in trying to take the life of a child," Judge Payne said to Harrison from the bench. The mother of the baby, born healthy in August, is now seeking custody of the child she tried to have killed. Judge Payne's words ring like a bell: "The life of a child." At seven months, the child is almost fully developed; it's eyelids are opening and closing at this stage, with its brain functioning and its heart beating. All that really needs to happen prior birth is weight increase. The potency of medical knowledge has pushed proponents of abortion on demand out of the realms of reason and science. The humanness and personhood of the unborn child are indisputable by any measurable, objective standard. It was President Obama who said, during his one-on-one with Rick Warren last summer, that determining when human life begins is "above my paygrade." Perhaps the President could read Judge Payne's remarks and the facts of this wrenching case and let us know if his current salary is sufficient for him to decide. Contact: Rob Schwarzwalder Source: FRC Blog Publish Date: October 29, 2009 Link to this article.   Send this article to a friend.