Man Stands Trial for Killing Wife Who Refused Abortion

State   |   Sarah Terzo   |   Feb 16, 2012   |   5:13PM   |   Raleigh, North Carolina

Jason Young is standing trial for the murder of his wife Michelle. Michelle Young was pregnant at the time of her death.

Michelle Young lost her first unborn baby after an accident, which cause the baby to die in utero. When she became pregnant for the second time, her husband Jason pressured her to abort the baby. His refusal to accept his wife’s pregnancy put a strain on their marriage, but they stayed together after baby Cassidy was born in 2004.

When Michelle Young got pregnant for third time in 2006, Jason increased the pressure. Family members, such as Michelle Young’s mother and her best friend Linda Fisher took the stand and described how Jason had harassed his wife in the time leading up to the murder, insisting she have an abortion. Michelle, who was looking forward to a second child, refused.

On November 3, 2006, Michelle Young was found beaten and strangled to death in her home. She was 29.  Suspicion quickly fell upon Jason, but his first trial ended in a hung jury. He is now being tried again at a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Linda Fisher described her friend is being a “great mother” to her living daughter, and told the jury that she had been so happy to be pregnant despite the friction with Jason.

Jason Young faces life in prison if he’s convicted of the murder.

Earlier this year, in Broward County, Florida, a man has been convicted of two counts of murder for killing a pregnant woman and her unborn baby. The court determined that Edward Jermaine Babbs killed Stephanie Rabsatt by shooting her in the abdomen and head on Oct.1, 2009. Rabsatt was almost 8 months pregnant with a son, who she had named Jayden. Babbs, who was the baby’s father, had been pressuring her to abort. Her refusal to have an abortion and the imminent birth of her son was what triggered the murder, according to police.

Rasblatts’ family was in the courtroom when Babbs was sentenced to life in prison. They tearfully told reporters that they felt justice had been done but that the grief of losing their loved ones would never go away.

“She was a brilliant child,” Rabsatt’s mother, Karen Moore, said after the verdict was revealed, “She was loving and kind, and she loved her baby.”

Also this year, a man who killed his pregnant girlfriend on her due date after she refused an abortion has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crime.

On November 8, 2011, LifeNews covered the tragic death of Niasha Delain, 25, who was brutally stabbed on the day she was supposed to give birth to a son. The stabbing, which was described by the prosecutor as “a crime of almost unimaginable viciousness” took place in October of 2008.

The convicted murderer, Derrick Reed, had been pressuring Delain to have an abortion for months, according to her friends and family and police. Under current law, Reid could only be charged with one murder despite the death of Delain’s full term son. The baby, who could easily have survived outside the womb, was to have been named Aidan by his mother.

Delain’s mother, Towanda Wimms, has urged state lawmakers to make it a crime to take the life of an unborn child during the commission of a homicide.

LifeNews.com Note: Sarah Terzo is a pro-life liberal who runs ClinicQuotes.com, a web site devoted to exposing the abortion industry.