When does it stop being an abortion and become plain old homicide?

Something to keep in mind amidst all the outrage: Things like this are literally an everyday occurrence. The strange and shocking aspect is merely that it's being reported, talked about, and perhaps might even lead to prosecution.

It's clear the child (not the fetus, BTW) was fully born, and thus taking her life is at least manslaughter, if not straight-up murder. They threw the baby into a bag, and threw her away, like she was soiled rags, or something.

It amazes me how certain people can look at these things happening, and well, you know...

Medical Board Revokes License of Abortion Practitioner in Florida Born Alive Case
http://www.lifenews.com/state3823.html

Meanwhile, charges have not been levied in the case, although Terry Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors are nearing a decision.

Hialeah police Deputy Chief Mark Overton told the Miami Herald after the incident that "'They hid the body from us for eight days,"

“SENATOR OBAMA: So — and again, I’m — I’m not going to prolong this, but I just want to be clear because I think this was the source of the objections of the Medical Society. As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child — however way you want to describe it — is now outside the mother’s womb and the doctor continues to think that it’s nonviable but there’s, let’s say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limp and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved. Is that correct?” http://www.ilga.gov/senate/transcripts (Page 32)(April 4, 2002)

If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

Someone was playing God.

A few observations

Consensus regarding the perennial debate of when a fetus becomes a person seems to be that a fetus becomes a person around the 24th month of pregnancy. I due not suggest said pre-born person enjoys all the rights enumerated in the Constitution however. Some advocates make the start of "qualified" personhood twenty months so as to avoid the possibility which Simon cited: that some fetuses can leave the womb, naturally or unnaturally, as it did in this case, and survive without much medical intervention making them de facto persons. It would be reasonable for the doctor to a. properly evaluate viability at time of proposed abortion, b. inform the mother at the earliest possible time at what point the law, regardless of ethics, forbids the termination of a fetus that has legally become a person for both doctor and mother, in particular, the certified evaluation of fetal state the doctor should be required to sign in each mother's case. Variation undoubtedly presents a different range of natural viability outside the womb for all fetuses. A doctor performing abortions should be required to either record or document making the law and medical certification clear to the mother. Such parental responsiblity in no way excuses the doctor's or his staff's infanticide.

We can argue about different definitions, but is seems the option above is the most pluralistic and scientific. That may seem harsh to those who feel substantial personhood or soul is endowed in the embryo the instant it is fertilized. To argue against this standard because the transition point is fuzzy is similar to denying the measurement of motion because there is an infinite number of points between two points. Most rational human beings in describing the basic attributes of personhood; personality, primitive self-awareness and even basic neural complexity for "thinking" occurs at the stage set forth above. The example cited by Simon is a series of failures resulting in infanticide, assuming that upon professional assessment, the baby was in fact viable.

Let's work backwards. The doctor and/or his clinic should be held responsible for murder or manslaughter. I can see how the staff and doctor can kick the ball around because the doctor can say he didn't perform the abortion, or wouldn't have upon final disposition of fetal state and the staff can claim they were given the wrong information and were not qualified to make final fetal determination.

The mother was either wrongly informed of fetal state and abortion procedure and rightly freaked out to see what she (unwittingly) and the staff (criminally) had done to her obvious child, or, she failed (under penalty of law) to understand what she had consented to, what was clearly described by doctor and has a lot of nerve claiming she was surprised. I can see why she would make a strong case for the former.

And two other related thoughts:

Couldn’t a child sue their parents for negligence while they were fetuses? That is, a crack mother being sued by her adult child for the physical harm inflicted on them while in her womb? My natural inclination would be to hold the parent accountable for all enumerated negligence committed during the entire period of gestation of the fetus once it was past the 20-24 month line of personhood. I see some problems however with my inclination: to hold parents responsible for their acts against their younger-than-20-month-old fetus despite that fetus's eventual development into a living person capable of bringing forth such legal actions against them. I am sure there is already a case history. Perhaps Simon might have additonal comments.

Stubborn Facts comment thread is tame compared to Althouse's.

When I read about this case, I started to write a post about it. The more I thought, the more disgusted I felt. I finally trashed the draft and moved on to something else.

I'm pro-choice, albeit reluctantly. But this is murder, plain and simple. Not manslaughter. If a murder charge isn't forthcoming, then something is terribly wrong down in Florida.