Protection or Restriction: The Detriments of Abortion Decriminalization in New York and Proposed Feticide Law

• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Author: Katie O'Leary
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12614

PROTECTION OR RESTRICTION: THE DETRIMENTS OF ABORTION

DECRIMINALIZATION IN NEW YORK AND PROPOSED

FETICIDE LAW

Katie O’Leary

The fight for women’s rights is far from over—especially the fight to maintain a woman’s constitutional right to choose. From

criminal abortion laws to feticide laws whose motives are disguised as domestic violence protections rather than prosecution

of pregnant women, states have tried to restrict this fundamental right and awoman’s right to abortion free from prosecution

remains threatened. This Note proposes a feticide law in New York that holds domestic abusers accountable for the murder

of an unborn child, while also protecting women against criminal prosecution for terminating their own pregnancies.

Key Points for the Family Law Community

As of 2018, at least thirty-eight states have fetal homicide laws.

Between 3% and 9% of women experience abuse during pregnancy.

As of September 2019, twenty-nine states were considered hostile toward abortion rights, fourteen states were consid-

ered supportive, and seven states fell somewhere in between.

Non-prescription abortion pills sold online range in price from $45 to $75, while a legal medicated abortion in a

clinic can cost anywhere from $300 to $800.

In 2019, state legislatures enacted fifty-eight abortion restrictions, twenty-five of which would ban all, most, or some

abortions.

Keywords: Criminal Abortion; Domestic Violence; Fetal Homicide; Feticide; Fetus; Reproductive Rights; Self-Induced

Abortion; Unborn Child.

I. INTRODUCTION

Consider two scenarios. In the first, twenty-nine-year-old Alexis Wasson is twenty-one weeks

pregnant with twin boys.

1

She has a five-year-old daughter and is excited to welcome two baby

brothers.

2

Alexis was a vibrant and happy woman living in Anderson, Indiana.

3

That is, until her

relationship turned toxic, controlling, and violent.

4

Alexis’s family noticed how Skye’Lar White,

her boyfriend, isolated her, and she consistently dismissed their concerns when they tried to remove

her from this toxic situation.

5

Alexis began to lose friends and her once close relationship with her

grandmother had begun to fade.

6

Her family’s worst fears came true when White shot Alexis in the

back of the head in the middle of the night.

7

After the shooting, White never called 911, instead, he

drove Alexis to his mother’s home and fled.

8

White was later arrested where he claimed that the

shooting was an accident and the gun “just went off.”Alexis on the other hand was rushed to the

hospital where she showed no signs of life and was declared brain dead; the only thing keeping her

alive were the machines she was connected to when she was placed on life support.

9

After her

unborn twin boys died one day apart from each other, Alexis’s family decided to take her off of life

support.

10

White was charged with the murder of Alexis and the feticide of the twins and was fac-

ing trial as of 2021.

11

Now consider this. In 2015, Kenlissia Jones was a twenty-three-year old mother to a young son

who had come from a Christian family living in Georgia.

12

She had struggled psychologically and

Corresponding: katie.oleary15@gmail.com

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 59 No. 4, October 2021 855–869, doi: 10.1111/fcre.12614

© 2021 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.