If I am a woman with a recessive gene for a deadly congenital disorder, and I have sex, as a result of which I concieve, and I go on to give birth, and the baby dies at some point as a result of the disorder, then my action (having sex, giving birth, etc) has resulted in the death of a person.
We should try to avoid the conclusion that this is murder, but you can’t deny the action led to the death of a person. This is a case where we need to become clear about which actions-leading-to-death count as murder and which don’t.
I would add that suicide is probably considered “an unforgivable sin” less because it’s so heinous than because it’s so irreversible.
Except by those people who lose all respect for suicides and attempted suicides, because a lack of committed self-love offends them ethically; & I’ve known one or two of those.
Let’s keep this in the realm of actions, though. Having a gene isn’t an action. But drug use is. So what happens with a woman who is pregnant and is using drugs every day. (Whatever drug you want, Vicodin, crack, Prozac, SuperAwesomeHighlantin.)
She gives birth to a presumed full-term (but no way to know for sure) baby who lives two hours and then dies. The baby is small, has brain damage incompatible with life, organ damage and the drug in the bloodstream.
Do we charge her with murder or even a lesser form of homicide?
Every state that’s tried has failed, even when they’ve used statutes specifically designed to criminalize supplying drugs to “children” that do not designate the age of the “child” in any way.
