“Multiple charges of murder have come in the deaths discovered Friday in an Ozark mobile home, with one of those charges stemming from the death of an unborn child”…read more.
When an unborn child is killed by another human being, the State of Missouri may prosecute the death as a criminal homicide if the death occurs otherwise than by abortion. In 1986, the General Assembly passed a law that included two sentences that are the foundation of protecting unborn life in law: “(1) The life of each human being begins at conception”; and “(2) Unborn children have protectable interests in life, health, and well-being.” Mo. Rev. Stat. section 1.205.1. This law acknowledges basic biological reality: upon conception a new human comes into being who has his or her own life and unique genetic identity.
The appellate courts of Missouri have ruled more than once that the law means what it says, and the criminal deaths of unborn babies may be prosecuted. Unfortunately, the law cannot be enforced in cases involving abortions, because the United States Supreme Court has ruled since Roe v. Wade in 1973 that the U. S. Constitution forbids any “undue burden” from being placed in the way of aborting infants to death. The U. S. Constitution trumps any state laws that conflict with it.
“Further descriptions of how far the U. S. Supreme Court has carried its abortion dictates, but also what areas are still allowed for state legislation that can save the lives of unborn babies, may be found in MRL’s legal summary of abortion law, https://missourilife.org/legislation/currentlaw.html.