Connecticut high court says fetus is body part: Ruling makes fetus akin to skin, teeth
As if we needed any more flammable liquids dumped on this flame, this ruling is certainly not going to simplify things. In a ruling that seems destined to make NO ONE happy, the Connecticut Supreme Court has thrown it's hat into the abortion debate. To those on the pro-life/anti-choice side of the debate, the ruling is a step towards recognizing the rights of a fetus. To those on the pro-choice side, this ruling can be seen as another movement down the slippery slope towards dismantling Roe v. Wade.
HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- Angering both sides of the abortion debate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a fetus is a body part, akin to teeth, skin and hair that are eventually shed.
The ruling unanimously upheld the conviction of a man who tried to induce a miscarriage by slipping his girlfriend labor-inducing drugs. Edwin Sandoval argued he could not be charged with attempting to commit aggravated assault because the fetus was the target, not the mother.
Though the court held that the 5-week-old fetus was part of the woman's body, Chief Justice William J. Sullivan issued a separate concurring opinion saying a fetus might have "its own independent existence."
"In other words, the fetus may both be a part of its mother as well as its own individual being," Sullivan wrote.
Yep, it's a dessert topping AND a floor wax, y'all. I suppose this is what happens when you have a state Supreme Court Justice who probably has to answer to Connecticut's voters at some point in his tenure. Of course, to look at the ruling another way, no one is happy, which probably means it's just about right. Of course, that assumes that there is an absolute and universally-recognized standard of right and wrong in the abortion debate- which, of course, there is not.
In the end, this ruling will produce much sound and fury, but will likely signify absolutely nothing. At least it gets Chief Justice William J. Sullivan some face time, though....
