{"id":286089,"date":"2023-02-27T18:40:27","date_gmt":"2023-02-28T00:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=286089"},"modified":"2023-02-27T00:39:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T06:39:43","slug":"ma-supreme-court-homicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Liberty Counsel<\/a>) The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held<\/a>\u00a0in a recent decision that someone who kills an unborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide since that child is considered a person under state law.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Commonwealth v. Ronchi<\/i>, the highest state court in Massachusetts recently upheld two first-degree murder convictions of a man who stabbed his girlfriend to death which caused the death of their nine-month unborn child from loss of blood circulation from the mother. The defendant argued that since he had not actually stabbed the baby, he should not be held responsible for its death. However, the court rejected this argument and held that \u201cinfliction of prenatal injuries resulting in the death of a viable fetus, before or after it is born, is homicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the two consecutive life sentences that a lower court had given the defendant. The state Supreme Judicial Court agreed with the trial court\u2019s instructions to the jury which included: \u201cKilling is not murder unless a human being has been killed. A viable fetus is a human being under the law of homicide. A fetus is viable when there is a reasonable likelihood of the fetus\u2019s sustained survival outside the womb, with or without artificial support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state Supreme Judicial Court followed its precedent in a 1984 case\u00a0Commonwealth v. Cass<\/a><\/i>\u00a0in which a driver was convicted of motor vehicle homicide after his vehicle struck a woman who was eight and a half months pregnant, resulting in the death of her child. In that case, the court decided that \u201cinfliction of prenatal injuries resulting in the death of a viable fetus, before or after it is born, is homicide. \u2026 We believe that our criminal law should extend its protection to viable fetuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court often used the word \u201cchild\u201d to refer to the unborn baby in last week\u2019s ruling in\u00a0Commonwealth v. Ronchi<\/i>. Yet in a tragic irony, in the 1981 decision in\u00a0Moe v. Secretary of Administration and Finance<\/a><\/i>, the same court recognized a \u201cfundamental right of choice\u201d when it comes to abortion, and that the state constitution \u201caffords a greater degree of protection to the right\u201d than previous U.S. Supreme Court decisions of the time.<\/p>\n

\"Walgreens<\/p>\n

Currently in Massachusetts, abortion is legal through 24 weeks.\u00a0After<\/a>\u00a0that, \u201conly if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the life of the patient, if it is necessary, in the best medical judgment of the physician, to preserve the patient’s physical or mental health or, in the best medical judgment of the physician, an abortion is warranted because of a lethal fetal anomaly or the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside the uterus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, \u201cAbortion has distorted the law. It makes perfect sense to charge a person with murder who kills an unborn child. It makes no sense to call this \u2018choice\u2019 when the mother does the killing. Homicide can only be committed against a person \u2013 a human being. Homicide cannot be committed against property or a non-person. Plain and simple – abortion is homicide because the act of killing the child is the same whether it is done by a violent actor or a doctor in a white lab coat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This press release was originally published at\u00a0Liberty Counsel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Did you know that as little as $10 a month is enough to reach more than 3,000 people with the truth about abortion that no one else is telling them? Click here to start saving lives 365 days a year.<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Liberty Counsel) The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held\u00a0in a recent decision that someone who kills an unborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide since that child is considered a person under state law. In\u00a0Commonwealth v. Ronchi, the highest state court in Massachusetts recently upheld two first-degree murder convictions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":686,"featured_media":257798,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,4,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/screenshot-preborn-baby.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Liberty Counsel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Liberty Counsel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Liberty Counsel\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0d7b9112310c65cdc9e56dccf2c9cc09\"},\"headline\":\"Massachusetts Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\"},\"wordCount\":616,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\",\"Issues\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\",\"name\":\"MA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Massachusetts Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0d7b9112310c65cdc9e56dccf2c9cc09\",\"name\":\"Liberty Counsel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee8a55f4345ee0ea9d7f42103eeb6f1e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee8a55f4345ee0ea9d7f42103eeb6f1e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Liberty Counsel\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/liberty-counsel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide","description":"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide","og_description":"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":650,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/screenshot-preborn-baby.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Liberty Counsel","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Liberty Counsel","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/"},"author":{"name":"Liberty Counsel","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0d7b9112310c65cdc9e56dccf2c9cc09"},"headline":"Massachusetts Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide","datePublished":"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/"},"wordCount":616,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Guest Column","Issues","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/","name":"MA Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-02-28T00:40:27+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-27T06:39:43+00:00","description":"The MA Supreme Judicial Court\u00a0held that someone who kills a preborn baby capable of living outside of the mother\u2019s body can be charged with homicide.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ma-supreme-court-homicide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Massachusetts Supreme Court admits killing a preborn child is homicide"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0d7b9112310c65cdc9e56dccf2c9cc09","name":"Liberty Counsel","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee8a55f4345ee0ea9d7f42103eeb6f1e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ee8a55f4345ee0ea9d7f42103eeb6f1e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Liberty Counsel"},"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/liberty-counsel\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286089"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286099,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286089\/revisions\/286099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}