SamSaid!

WHICH WAY?

     Over the past year, Americans have been incessantly bombarded with the gory details of the Scott Peterson murder case in California. Peterson has now ben convicted of 1st degree murder in the killing of his eight -month pregnant wife and 2nd degree killing of his unborn son, Conner. All kinds of legalities have been introduced through the publicity conscious lawyers, but one complication that outranks the others is the legal status of Conner, the unborn son (fetus?).

    The fact that a murder2 conviction was returned by the jury clearly means that unborn Conner was a person in the eyes of the law. However, if the termination of the life of Conner had been the result of an abortion, murder2 would not have remotely been considered  –  he would have just been a by-product of “pro-choice”. How can our legal system say that if the pregnancy was terminated by an act of the father, it was a crime at the level of 2nd degree murder, but if  Conner's “life” is snuffed out as the result of an abortion approved my the mother, there is no crime.? In walking this legal tight rope, an unborn eight month old boy is a person, but by another standard, he is just a fetus.

     For sure, abortion is the most contentious of all of the “value” issues that are currently political footballs. Argument at either end of the abortion issue spectrum simply makes the divide even wider.  But one of these days, our Supremes will have to re-consider Roe V. Wade, and it may come down to determining the status of an unborn like Conner Peterson. At eight months, was he a person, or wasn't he?

     Scott Peterson may spend the rest of his life in prison  — if he survives a penalty of capital punishment. But the Conner Peterson case may very well outlive all of the other aspects of this lurid event.