New York Man Who Killed Pregnant Girlfriend for Refusing Abortion Sentenced 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 2, 2007
Spring Valley, NY (LifeNews.com) — A New York man who killed his pregnant girlfriend after she refused to have an abortion was sentenced to 22 years to life in prison after he beat her repeatedly with a baseball bat. However, he was not held accountable for the death of the girl’s unborn child because New York has a conflicting unborn victims law.
Ryan Ross, 23, accused Karesse Ebron of being pregnant with his child and asked her to have an abortion.
She declined, so Ross drove her to an isolated area across from a park to talk. When Ebron got out of the car, he hit her numerous times over the head with a baseball bat. He left her body nearby and covered it with leaves to cover up his tracks.
However, police found Ross’ name and number in Ebron’s phone and Ross eventually admitted to killing Ebron and plead guilty in the case.
Ross appeared stoic in court, according to a Journal News report, lending credence to the family’s argument that he was not remorseful for having killed the 16 year-old girl.
Judge Catherine Bartlett told Ross that killing Ebron because she wouldn’t have an abortion "makes no sense … and was hard to believe."
"Your attitude, this court believes, is life is cheap," Bartlett said, according to the Journal News. "That makes you a dangerous human being."
Ebron’s mother, Sharene McCullough, told the court in comments during the sentencing that "Karesse did not have a chance to fight back at all for her life because he … beat her over and over in the head with a bat because he was a cold-hearted and cowardly person."
McCullough said Ross "not only robbed Karesse from me, but he also robbed Karesse from her father, her brothers, her grandparents."
Ross was not charged with killing Ebron’s baby because a "person" that is the victim of a homicide is statutorily defined as a "human being who has been born and is alive."
Under New York statutory law, the killing of an "unborn child" after twenty-four weeks of pregnancy is homicide, but that provision appears to conflict with the homicide statues. Some 34 other states have laws that charge criminals like Ross twice for both the death of the unborn child as well as death of the mother.
