WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Change to Vermont Law Following Deadly Crash?
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Burlington, Vermont - August 12, 2009
Vermont Law School professor Cheryl Hanna says a 1989 Vermont Supreme Court ruling is very clear: an unborn child is not considered a "person". Prosecutors cannot use a homicide statute in the case of Patricia Blair. But most states do recognize fetuses as "persons".
"These laws are often very political. Pro-choice advocates often resist them for fear that granting fetus rights under homicide statutes could then be extended to undermine the basis of Roe vs. Wade," says Hanna. "On the other side, pro-life groups often push state legislatures to pass these laws to expand the rights of fetuses with the hope of undermining abortion law."
13 other states are like Vermont -- and do not extend the law to cover the unborn.
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