More than two dozens states provide justice and protection for pregnant women and unborn children with laws that allow prosecutors to charge criminals for two crimes when they kill and injure both a pregnant mother and her unborn child in the course of a violent crime outside the context of abortion.
Without this law in place, assailants would only be held accountable for killing or injuring the mother in such an attack or assault and would face no punishment for killing the unborn child — even days before birth.
A case out of Missouri provides part of the rationale for these unborn victims laws — because pregnant moms and their unborn children are often targets of violent attacks.
A St. Louis Park woman is accused of assaulting her boyfriend’s pregnant sister, throwing her to the ground and hitting her in the stomach. “If it’s up to me, you’re not going to have a child,” the woman reportedly told her boyfriend’s pregnant sister. Fortunately, in this case, the baby was not harmed.
A local news report has more on this story:
The sister, who was three-and-a-half months pregnant, went to the hospital for stomach cramping, but her unborn child was unharmed.
Monica Williams, 33, is charged with one felony count of terroristic threats and one third-degree misdemeanor count of assault of an unborn child.
According to the criminal complaint:
On Oct. 9, Williams and her boyfriend’s sister got in an argument outside Williams’ apartment complex on the 3100 block of Highway 100.
Williams grabbed the sister by the hair and punched her.
“If it’s up to me, you’re not going to have a child,” Williams said, according to the complaint.
The sister said she then felt a strong blow land on her stomach.
A witness told police that she heard Williams tell the sister, “I can’t believe you had the balls to come back here after I threatened you and told you not to come back.”
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Williams then grabbed the sister by the hair, throwing her to the ground and placing her knee on her stomach, the witness said.
“Your baby is not going to be born,” Williams said, according to the witness. “Your baby is not coming out. You’re not having a baby. It’s not going to happen.”
Williams faces up to five years in jail and a $10,000 fine.
