On board a U.S. Navy cruiser in the
Fear had ruled her life for several months. Ever since she realized she was pregnant. Until then she had an unblemished military record. Promotions had come early and her future with the Navy seemed bright. But her folly one evening 9 months ago now threatened to change all that. What would happen if they found out?
In what must have been a desperate moment for her, birth pangs hit this frightened young woman. Somewhere in the bowels of the ship she birthed her baby all by herself. Terrified that her ruinous secret would be detected, she wrapped the infant in a blanket, stuffed that wad into a trash bag, and lugged it ashore with her that evening.
“I pulled it off!” she sighed with relief. But then pains, worse than those of the childbirth, began to rip through her belly. With the pains came a new wave of panic. Fear of discovery now gave way to fear of dying.
Twelve hours after the birth, when she checked into a local hospital, the baby in the trash bag was dead. Doctors notified the ship’s commanding officers, who then had no choice. They charged the forlorn young sailor with negligent homicide.
Military prosecutors found themselves confronted with the same quandary their civilian counterparts face whenever they handle a case like this. “If she could have aborted the baby even moments before the actual birth,” they admitted, “there would be no case.”
And this bothers them. Just like it bothers any thinking person. Today’s confused legal alternatives in this area seem grossly unfair. The same lawyers who must prosecute this scared girl for letting her baby die are presently bound by law to defend her right to end the same life if she does it just a few hours earlier.
It’s time for us to ask why.
Do you know anybody who thinks a mother should have the right to kill her newborn? I don’t. Why does it become O.K. if we take a few ticks off the clock?
Why do some in our society who praise a woman for ending an “unwanted” life by abortion want to punish her for accomplishing the same result a short time later?
Until we answer questions like these, none of us will feel good about this sailor’s fate.