The existence of unborn victims of crime must be acknowledged and protected by law
WHEN Kensington Palace announced last week that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is “expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019” the whole world was overjoyed. No one stopped to question whether this was in fact a “baby” or merely a “foetus”.
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WHEN Kensington Palace announced last week that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, is “expecting a baby in the Spring of 2019” the whole world was overjoyed. No one stopped to question whether this was in fact a “baby” or merely a “foetus”.
We were all celebrating a human life that is valuable in its own right at any stage.
That’s because we as a society acknowledge the excitement and beauty of a new human life. We recognise that babies are inherently valuable, and their very existence is something to celebrate.
In contrast, several weeks ago we saw the horrific news that a young woman, Katherine Hoang, had died in a car accident. A female relative died alongside her.
To add to the devastation, Katherine was pregnant with twin boys who were due to be born just seven days later. Both unborn babies died in the crash.
Under current NSW law these babies are not recognised as human persons and therefore their death is being ignored by our authorities. Their death is merely seen as an injury to their mother, rather than a disturbing loss of two human lives.
In a society that is slowly starting to wake up to miscarriage and stillbirth grief, refusing to acknowledge these two babies simply because they had not taken their first breath of air is undeniably disrespectful.
It’s disrespectful to Katherine’s memory, her husband (who survived the crash), their family and friends and most importantly to these two little boys.
The discrepancy between public opinion, which openly acknowledges the lives of unborn babies, and our politicians is inexcusable.
Thankfully there is a bill expected to be debated in the NSW Parliament Upper House today called “Zoe’s Law”.
Zoe’s Law would create provisions for the killing of an unborn child to be viewed as a death in its own right and for charges to be pressed on the alleged perpetrator based on this, rather than the death of the unborn child being listed as nothing more than an injury to the mother as happens now.
If passed, this bill would ensure the proper dignity and respect which must be shown for any loss of human life.
If NSW politicians are serious about putting the best interest of our population first, then acknowledging the existence of all members of this population must be a priority.
We cannot pick and choose who is recognised as a human person and who is not.
This is an archaic, discriminatory view of the world. If society acknowledges the royal baby is a person before birth, then Katherine’s twins must also be acknowledged as people under our laws.
Rebecca Gosper is the director of LifeChoice Australia