A 22 year old pregnant Iowa woman was accused by police for
intentionally falling down the stairs to kill her baby. After three weeks of
reviewing the facts of the case, Des Moines County prosecutors have determined
not to press charges against Christine Taylor for “feticide’, the “illegal death
of a fetus”, which “is a rare crime that has never been prosecuted in
Iowa”.
Why would the Des Moines County prosecutors think Christine Taylor
fell on purpose? The Des
Moines Register
reports:
According to a police report, nurse
Tiffany Prickett said Taylor told her in the emergency room she did
not want the baby. "She had asked Christine if she just didn't want the kid
tonight, and Christine told her that she hadn't wanted the baby all along," the
report said.
Later, the nurse brought in a doctor
who asked several other questions about whether she intended to end her
pregnancy.
Taylor acknowledges she was very emotional at
the hospital.
"I never said I didn't want my baby, but I admitted that I
had been considering adoption or abortion," she said. "I admit that I said I
wasn't sure I wanted to continue the pregnancy. My husband sends me money, but
money doesn't make a parent. I don't have anybody else to turn
to."
Taylor said the doctor told her he
was going to call Taylor's own doctor at a local medical clinic, but she said
she doesn't know whether the call was made.
Hours later, however, police
entered and began "interrogating" her, she said.
"I asked Christine if
she wanted the child she was pregnant with and she stated, 'No, I don't know,' "
the officer wrote.
Shortly after she was released from the hospital, two
squad cars pulled up behind the taxi she was in on her way home to meet her two
girls. She said she spent two days in jail, while her daughters wondered where
she was.
In other
words, the medical professionals who were there to assess Christine Taylor and
her child’s well being began asking questions about whether or not she wanted
the child. Those medical professionals then contacted the police for fear that
she fell on purpose. But Ms. Taylor did not fall on purpose, instead, she “said
her husband, who lives in Maryland, left her after she became pregnant
with her third child last summer. She said she was despondent after a Jan. 19
telephone conversation with him. He was saying some very hurtful things and told
me he wants to be free," said Taylor, a Maryland native. "And here I was alone,
pregnant with two young kids, with no family around or support. I just thought,
'It's not fair.' ... I was so upset and frantic I almost blacked out, and I
tripped and fell." Apparently, it took three weeks for her explanation to be
validated by the police department, and Ms. Taylor “says she
believes the personal views of medical workers and police played a part in a
decision to accuse her last month of attempted feticide.”
There are a number of concerning elements to the way this situation was handled. Women have a right to choose, period. The way the
medical professionals behaved while treating their patient flies in the face of
that choice. Also, people have a right to speak. Ms. Taylor shouldn’t be
punished for voicing her feelings about the pregnancy, which is effectively what
the Des Moines
police were trying to do. And lastly, implications of not having privacy and the security to be honest with a medical professional is chilling.
Fortunately, Christine Taylor will not be charged with
feticide, but the ACLU continues to fight for the rights of pregnant women
around the country who face unfair treatment in prisons, in the military and
from the courts. If you havent heard of the Samantha Burton case in Florida yet,
click
here, and to watch a story about a pregnancy woman denied medical care in a
Montana prison, click here.