Free icecream to the person with a logical explanation

Posted on July 17, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |

Since this is murder, why isn’t this?

Comments

3 Responses to “Free icecream to the person with a logical explanation”

  1. Right Field on July 17th, 2008 10:50 am

    That must be a trick question, because there is no logical explanation…

  2. finnegan on July 17th, 2008 1:22 pm

    Good question. I’m assuming you’re looking for a simple answer, which I doubt anyone can give you.

    The answer probably lies in the political leanings of the local prosecutor’s office. I would guess they/he/she are anti-abortion, and want to make a point. Had this same thing happened in Berkley, California or Boston, Massachusetts, I doubt the prosecutor would press murder charges. But in the Deep South, there’s a pretty strong anti-abortion current (in 2005, there was only one abortion clinic in the entire state of Mississippi). I wouldn’t be surprised if there were only a scant few clinics in Alabama, where Jennifer D. Johnson lives.

    Laws prohibit abortions performed by unlicensed individuals. At the same time, some state and local laws (especially in the Deep South) essentially prohibit new abortion clinics being built. Therefore, if Ms. Johnson felt an abortion was necessary, and knew that abortions are legal under federal law post Roe v Wade, but didn’t have access to a clinic (or didn’t have the money to pay for one) she performed one herself, or had a friend do it. Then, the local prosecutor (assuming he/she would like to see Roe v Wade overturned) decides “this will make great headlines and re-ignite the abortion debate.” Don’t forget, prosecutors run for office and need to make headlines.

    Then again, I don’t know much about Florence, Alabama, so some of my assumptions about the prosecutor and number of accessible clinics could be wrong.

    If you have some free time and would like to watch a fairly unbiased documentary about abortion, I encourage all mature adults both for and against abortion rights to watch this issue of Frontline from 1983.

  3. Vivian J. Paige on July 19th, 2008 9:38 pm

    My guess is that it has to do with the timing. Abortion is legal until the third trimester, according to this.

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