Defending "Unborn Children" a Legal Defense, Appeals Court Rules.

Last month a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed the voluntary manslaughter conviction of Jaclyn Kurr. What makes this particular case of concern to pro-lifers is that Ms. Kurr insisted she had been defending the lives of her unborn children against one Antonio Pena!

A jury sentenced Kurr to 5-20 years in prison. In ordering a new trial, the appeals court panel said she should have been allowed to argue that she was defending "her unborn children" as well as herself, the New York Times reported.

According to syndicated columnist George Will, Kurr "had sought hospital treatment for injuries" inflicted by Pena. "Then came their argument about his cocaine use, during which he twice punched her in the stomach."

Kurr, 16-17 weeks pregnant with quadruplets, warned Pena that she was carrying his babies. "When Pena seemed about to punch her again, she stabbed him in the chest, fatally," Will wrote. A few weeks after the confrontation she miscarried.

Under Roe v. Wade, Ms. Kurr could have aborted these same babies without qualm. The legal schizophrenia was so obvious the appeals court felt the need to address it in its opinion.

At the same time the court insisted its decision was narrow--assaults carried out against pregnant women--Judge Patrick M. Meter wrote, "We are obviously aware of the raging debate occurring in this country regarding the point at which a fetus becomes a person entitled to all the protections of the state and federal constitutions."

The trial jury rejected Ms. Kurr's defense that she ought to have been allowed to use deadly force to defend herself from Pena's assault. (Michigan law allows this when people believe their lives are in danger or when they feel threatened by serious bodily harm.)