Isn't Abortion already covered under our Murder Laws?

Question

Why does abortion escape our current laws regarding "murder?" In criminal law, murder is the crime of causing the death of another human being, without lawful excuse, and with intent to kill or with an intent to cause grievous bodily harm, which is traditionally termed "malice aforethought". In attempted murder, the mens rea requirement, Latin for "guilty mind", is limited. In some common law jurisdictions, an accused is not guilty of murder if the victim lives for longer than a year and a day after the attack. This reflects the likelihood that, if the victim has survived so long after the initial attack, there will be other factors contributing to the cause of death and so break the chain of causation. Subject to the local statute of limitation, the accused can still be charged with an offense representing the seriousness of the initial assault. SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder

The statute does not state whether the "human being" qualification requires the "human being" to be outside of the mother's body.

Answer 1

Do a search on murder rates of pregnant women.I'm pretty sure there is a seperate charge for the death of a fetus when the mother is murdered.Abortion is murder and should be treated the same.

Answer 2

Thats a very good thought you have. Abortion is just such a touchy subject for some people. I would say it is becuase some people dont consider it killing anything becuase it has not been born yet therefor it is not alive or human, but a fetus. It depends on what one considers murder to be.

Answer 3

Because it's not considered a "living human being" until it takes it's first breath. Don't you ever watch Law and Order SVU? I know.. it doesn't make sense to me either.