STANEK: Is a crying baby alive?

Illinois Leader ^ | Wednesday, October 01, 2003 | Jill Stanek

[nickcarraway]

Is a crying baby alive? No, not necessarily, decided Cook County Circuit Court Judge Karen Thompson last November when she acquitted a mother previously convicted twice of murdering her newborn daughter.

Thus is the latest of increasingly grotesque decisions made by liberal judges to accommodate abortion - first of unborn babies, then of partially delivered babies, and now of babies who are delivered but have not “established a separate and independent life,” as required by Thompson in her reversal.

In question is whether a six-pound, 19-inch baby girl was “completely separated” at delivery when her mother, Elizabeth Ehlert, killed her.

Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene, arguing that “complete separation” would mean the umbilical cord must be cut.

“What you have here is the horrific scenario in which a mother who doesn’t want her baby delivers the baby, the baby is out and still connected by the cord, and under the complete separation doctrine… she can kill that baby,” said assistant state’s attorney Peter Fischer, according to the Daily Herald. “She can stab it, she can strangle it, do anything, and it’s not murder…. It’s nothing.”

The state’s attorney is correct. A baby is not completely separated from her mother so long as no one cuts the cord, which is attached at one end to the baby’s navel and at the other end to the placenta inside the mother. It normally takes five to 30 minutes for the placenta to be delivered following a baby's birth.

On August 21, 1990, Ehlert delivered her daughter in her Palatine bedroom alone. Boyfriend Steven King heard the baby cry for two seconds from where he stood in the hall. After that he heard nothing until Ehlert called for him to hand her a garbage bag, saying the baby had been born dead. She proceeded to throw the garbage bag with the baby in it into the creek behind her house. Workers found the baby downstream some days later.

According to court documents, Kingwas “credible,” “honest and sincere,” and “truly shaken up” by the incident.

Ehlert was found to lie and change her story several times about the events surrounding the birth. She lied that she was even pregnant during the months prior. She refused to allow King to call an ambulance when she was in labor.

Cook County assistant chief medical examiner Dr. Mitra Kalelkar testified the baby was healthy and had air in her lungs. Even before knowing the circumstances of the baby's death, she "had a suspicion that this baby was born alive and that the cause of death would be drowning," and requested further police investigation.

Prosecutors pointed out babies rarely cry when their heads appear during delivery. At that point the torso is still under great pressure within the birth canal, and the lungs have not yet inflated. The first cry is usually heard only after the baby is born.

In 1995, a jury found Ehlert guilty of murder.

But the first conviction was reversed “because the prosecution presented irrelevant and highly prejudicial evidence that defendant had two abortions,” said court documents. Prosecutors were merely demonstrating Ehlert had a history of killing her children, but the court ruffled at the insinuation. In Illinois, if someone kills a preborn baby against her mother’s wishes, that person is charged with homicide. If a mother kills her unborn baby by abortion, it is her choice.

Nevertheless Ehlert was convicted again by bench trial, the conviction Thompson Tobin overturned last November.

Progressive lawmakers have attempted to revise Illinois’ antiquated “born alive” definition each of the past three years in light of medical advances as well as the discovery of type of abortion being committed in Illinois hospitals that sometimes results in babies being aborted alive and left to die.

But pro-abortionists have repeatedly killed the measure, called the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

President Bush signed the federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act last year, but that only relates to federal law and postdates the murder in question.

At issue is more than Baby Girl Ehlert’s murder. At issue is an added feature to abortion.

If a baby does not have rights until completely separated from her mother, then it follows to be perfectly legal for hospital or abortion clinic staff to deliver a baby and not cut the cord until mom decides if she wants the baby. What if the baby is a girl when mom wants a boy? What if mom and the boyfriend at her side are both white, but the baby is obviously mixed race (as I have witnessed)? Why was the girl who delivered at her prom and threw the baby in the trash convicted? If her baby was not separated when allowed to drown in the toilet, was not that legal?

It is almost a surprise that State's Attorney Devine is pursuing justice for Baby Girl Ehlert. But he is a welcome ally in the fight to protect innocent babies from murder.

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[Coleus]

is there some way this makes some sense?! >>

I was wondering the same thing when I posted the article.

[Sabertooth]

In question is whether a six-pound, 19-inch baby girl was “completely separated” at delivery when her mother, Elizabeth Ehlert, killed her.

My daughter was born smaller and lighter than this.

In Japan, mothers aren't prosecuted for infaticide if the baby is 1 or 2. How long until a rogue judge cites that international standard?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Well, about par for the course in Crook, er, Cook County, I guess. Just sick - absolutely sick.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

The Circuit Court judges are elected or "retained".

Constitution of the State of Illinois - ARTICLE VI - THE JUDICIARY

SECTION 12. ELECTION AND RETENTION
(a) Supreme, Appellate and Circuit Judges shall be nominated at primary elections or by petition. Judges shall be elected at general or judicial elections as the General Assembly shall provide by law. A person eligible for the office of Judge may cause his name to appear on the ballot as a candidate for Judge at the primary and at the general or judicial elections by submitting petitions. The General Assembly shall prescribe by law the requirements for petitions.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Tobin was "retained" in 2000, which means we have to put up with her for another 3 years before we can "un-retain" her.

CIRCUIT COURT - RETAIN KAREN THOMPSOM TOBIN

[JonathansMommie]

Just Simply Sad.

[Saundra Duffy]

OMG

[cyborg]

Nothing. She was teleported out of her brown uniform that she used to wear while working as a b-tch of Buchenwald.

[George from New England]

"Yes, the new "complete birth" abortion, distinct from the "partial birth" abortion."

Will this be the culture of death's "way around" the partial brith abortion ban.

[Salvation]

BTTT for life!

[Salvation]

**Yes, the new "complete birth" abortion, distinct from the "partial birth" abortion.**

Oh, no, is this what the loophole dems are doing now?

[Puddleglum]

The subject matter described in this article is gruesome beyond words. How can these people sleep at night? The Pope has constantly wanred us about a culture of death, as did Walker Percy. These murderers must be placed within reach of the law or else the law has no meaning.

[ArrogantBustard]

Just Simply Sad EVIL.

[ArrogantBustard]

Peter "Animal Rights" Singer would approve.

[StriperSniper]

but have not “established a separate and independent life,” as required by Thompson

The F'in B!*%# should have her 'umbilical cord' to the taxpayers severed!
(At the least.)

[reagan_fanatic]

Part of everyone's prayers should be asking God Almighty's forgiveness for America's complicity in these atrocities.

I fear it will get worse for the unborn and even the newborn before it gets better.

[Okies love Dubya 2]

My second child was born 13 months ago this Sunday. The second his head popped out, he started crying. The doctor said that was strange (but not unheard of) because the baby's lungs are usually compressed from still being in the birth canal. That's why you don't hear them cry until they are completely out of the mother. So according to this judge (I am not going to call her a woman, because no real woman would say something like this), my son was not alive even though he was crying as soon as his head came out? I hate to think what she would say to the fact that I believe my children were alive the second they were conceived.

Disgusting.

[MHGinTN]

Ping

[MHGinTN]

Of course you are right, but this ruling wasn't about the law, it was about a 'judge' practicing societal engineering from the bench instead of applying law and seeking justice. Time to impeach the fool liberal, remove her from the bench so Justice can be served, and get on with it!

[JonathansMommie]

That Too!