An 18-year-old Oregon woman who was pregnant with her first child was stabbed to death on Monday in her home, according to local news reports.
Charreen Stanford was five months pregnant and had just learned that she was having a baby girl last week, Oregon Live reports. Her stepfather Joel Vance Jr. said Charreen was finishing her GED and working a job so that she could provide a good life for her daughter. KOIN reports Stanford’s boyfriend also was finishing school in Philadelphia and planning to move to Oregon to help prepare for their baby.
The tragic incident occurred on Monday evening at Stanford’s Beaverton, Oregon home. Police said another 18-year-old woman who lived at the house stabbed Stanford multiple times before fleeing the scene. Police said they later found the suspect, Tan’nekqwa Thompson, hiding in a nearby yard.
Police said they are not sure of Thompson’s motives, but neighbors reported that she and Stanford had fought before. Thompson is the girlfriend of Stanford’s brother.
After the attack, the family rushed Stanford to a hospital in Portland where she soon died, according to KOIN. Police said she was stabbed in the side about five times.
Reports do not mention whether doctors also tried to save Stanford’s unborn daughter’s life, but the baby girl likely also died as a result of the attack. Due Oct. 10, Stanford was five months pregnant, according to reports. Babies are viable outside the womb by about 22 weeks, and Stanford’s baby appeared to be near that viability mark when she was stabbed.
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During a hearing Tuesday, Thompson pleaded not guilty to a single count of murder, according to Oregon Live.
Oregon is one of only about a dozen states that do not recognize unborn babies as victims of violence in cases like these. According to the National Right to Life Committee, 37 states have laws that recognize the unlawful killing of an unborn child as a homicide in at least some circumstances. Because Oregon does not have this protection in place, Thompson likely will not be charged in the death of Stanford’s unborn daughter.
Violence against pregnant women and their unborn babies is common – even without counting abortion.
In a horrific 2015 case, a pregnant Colorado woman also was attacked and her unborn daughter was cut out of her womb. Dynel Catrece Lane was arrested in 2015 after she attacked a pregnant woman and cut her 7-month-old unborn baby from her womb. In April, she was sentenced to 100 years in prison for the crime, LifeNews reported. In this unbelievable act of violence, the baby died but the victim, Michelle Wilkins, survived. A 911 recording shows the baby breathed a heavy last gasp before she died.
Tragically, in Wilkins’ case, she was the only victim recognized in the crime against her and her unborn baby. Criminals in Colorado, unlike most other states, can’t be charged with a second crime for killing or injuring unborn babies.
