On November 8th, LifeNews ran an article about the death of a pregnant woman who was killed by the father of her unborn baby after refusing an abortion. Now, less than a week later, another grisly case has come to light.
According to the Los Angeles County Distinct Attorney’s Office, two men are scheduled to be arraigned on November 18th on murder charges in the deaths of 27 year old Crystal Taylor and her unborn baby. They will be charged with two counts of murder. Derek Smyer, 31, is accused of hiring a hit man (Skyler Jefferson Moore) to shoot Taylor after she refused to abort her sixteen week old unborn baby. Symer was the father of the child.
According to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Detective Dave Coleman:
“He [Smyer] elicited the murder. He hired the other shooter to kill Crystal, so he’s been charged with accessory to murder and solicitation and actually with the murder. He did not want to be a father so he wanted to get rid of Crystal and the baby.”
The actual shooter, Skyler Moore, is already serving a life sentence for another murder and is currently incarcerated. He will be charged with these two new murders and may face the death penalty. The shooting took place in September of 2001. Crystal Taylor had another child, a son, who was ten at the time of her death.
In an article in the Los Angeles News the young man is quoted saying:
“She was everything I had. It was just me and my mom most of my life. She wasn’t just my mother, she was my best friend. I also had my little brother that was also coming.”
Women who are pregnant often face pressure from their partners to abort their babies. In fact, according to one study, (1) 64% of women who abort feel coerced by their partners to do so. When a woman resists such coercion, and wants to keep her child, her refusal can trigger violence and, in extreme cases, murder. In fact, murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. (2)
More examples of violence aimed at pregnant women who refuse to abort can be found in the Elliot Institute report on coerced abortions.
- VM Rue et. al., “Induced abortion and traumatic stress: A preliminary comparison of American and Russian women,” Medical Science Monitor 10(10): SR5-16 (2004).
- I.L. Horton and D. Cheng, “Enhanced Surveillance for Pregnancy-Associated Mortality-Maryland, 1993-1998,” JAMA 285(11): 1455-1459 (2001); see also J. Mcfarlane et. al., “Abuse During Pregnancy and Femicide: Urgent Implications for Women’s Health,” Obstetrics & Gynecology 100: 27-36 (2002).
LifeNews.com Note: Sarah Terzo is a pro-life liberal who runs ClinicQuotes.com, a web site devoted to exposing the abortion industry.
