SALT LAKE CITY, March 12, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A mentally disturbed woman in Utah is being charged with one first-degree felony count of criminal homicide after refusing a caesarian section that would have saved the life of one of her twin babies. Melissa Ann Rowland, 28, was charged Thursday with showing “depraved indifference to human life.” Rowland was carrying twins, a boy and a girl, and had been repeatedly informed that a caesarian section was immediately necessary. Rowland refused because she wanted to avoid scarring saying she would rather “lose one of the babies than be cut like that.” Rowland had two other children before the delivery of the surviving twin girl and is currently in jail on child endangerment charges.
The case once again highlights the contradiction and moral confusion to be found in the medical and legal communities over abortion. Had Rowland insisted on a partial birth abortion, the legal and medical communities would likely be in support of her decision, on the grounds that a homicide charge could not apply to an unborn “fetus”.
Brigham Young University law professor Marguerite Driessen, made this point in remarks on how the case could affect the legal status of the child before birth. Driessen said that it could open the door to the prosecution of mothers who smoke or don’t follow their obstetrician’s diet. “It’s very troubling to have somebody come in and say we’re going to charge this mother for murder because we don’t like the choices she made,” she said.
A nurse at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake, told police that during a visit there, Rowland was recommended to undergo a c-section immediately and two hospitals were recommended. She left LDS hospital after signing a document that admitted she understood the need for the emergency surgery. Rowland allegedly said she would rather have both twins die before she went to either of the suggested hospitals. The boy died two days before delivery and, according to the testimony of a doctor at LDS hospital who examined Rowland, would have survived if Rowland had undergone a C-section when urged to do so.
Duluth News Tribune.com coverage: https://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/8164008.htm