this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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If a zygote qualifies as a "body," then anyone who has had a miscarriage is guilty of manslaughter.
Don't think they're not marching toward that.
@Gutotito
@Snorf
To be clear, this wasn't a zygote, which would be a fertilized cell. This was a fetus at week 23, which is later than most abortions are performed without fetal abnormalities. Less than 1% of abortions are performed that late. A fetus may be considered viable around that point as well (this would be on the extreme end though). Many pro-choice people base their justification around fetal viability and don't necessarily feel great about abortions performed after that much development.
I'm not trying to justify these charges, but let's steer away front hyperbole. Prior to Dobbs, a state could have restricted access to abortion in this same way. Saying "zygote" implies this could happen to anyone who gets an abortion, which simply isn't implied by this decision.
While I agree with you in general, it's important to note that in this particular case, the girl was 23 weeks pregnant. At that stage the fetus has an 80% survival chance outside of the womb. Even in civilized states that don't try to ban abortion, the procedures are generally only done that late in a pregnancy if there is a serious medical risk to the mother or child.
23 weeks is 17 weeks early. Definitely not 80% chance of viability, but I'm even surprised at the 25% given with a quick Google.
You'd have to prove some sort of neglect that is without a reasonable doubt responsible for the death of the person.