Iowa Police Now Equipped With Mind Reading Ability
Sounds crazy doesn’t it? Let me tell you the story of Christine Taylor. Ms. Taylor was in her second trimester of pregnancy when she had an upsetting phone conversation with her estranged husband. She became light headed and fell down a flight of stairs in her home. Paramedics were called and deemed her to be fine, but Ms. Taylor thought she should go to the ER to ensure her unborn fetus was ok.
At the ER, Taylor confided in a nurse that at first she wasn’t sure she had wanted to keep this baby. She was unemployed, newly single and a mother of two already. She told the nurse that she had considered both adoption and abortion before deciding to keep the baby. The nurse told the doctor, who further questioned Taylor about her thoughts. Taylor was then being arrested for feticide. The doctor and the nurse felt that Taylor threw herself down the stairs on purpose.
Iowa state law defines attempted feticide as trying "to intentionally terminate a human pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of the pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of the pregnancy." At least 37 states have similar laws. Taylor spent two days in jail before being released. That's right, a pregnant woman was jailed for admitting to thinking about an abortion at some point early in her pregnancy and then having the audacity to fall down some stairs a couple of months later. Does that horrify you as much as it does me?!
After a three week investigation, the district attorney refused to prosecute Taylor. Not because the arrest was absurd but because Taylor was in her second trimester at the time of the fall and not her third. So in Iowa, do whatever you want in your first two trimesters of pregnancy but don’t you dare even twist your ankle in the third or you’ll land in jail.
Of all the horrible, shocking elements to this case, perhaps one of the worst is the breach of confidentiality on the part of the hospital staff. Christine Taylor came to them emotionally vulnerable in order to seek help for her unborn child. She thought she was in a safe place talking to professionals in whom she could confide. Oops, her bad. As Robert Rigg, professor at the Drake University Law School, said, "How in the heck did the police get a statement made by a patient to a medical person during the course of treatment?
The sad part is-this type of thing happens frequently. Pregnant women are being held against their will and why do some people feel that this is ok? Christine Taylor’s life has been turned upside down. She is having an even harder time finding a job. So ladies here’s the lesson: when pregnant, always act extremely happy- no matter what the circumstances are. Don’t fall down or you may be charged with attempted feticide.