Topic: Fetal Homicide

Discuss the following questions concerning the state of fetal homicide law. While some discussion of abortion is natural in this assignment, be sure that you answer the questions about fetal homicide law, which is the focus of this section.

Why is it in the public's interest to make it a separate crime to kill a fetus?

Is there a conflict between fetal homicide laws and abortion rights? If so, how is the conflict resolved?

There are 3 standards used to determine whether a fetus is a "person" for purposes of homicide law: the born-alive standard, the viability standard, and the conceptions standard. Discuss each standard and explain which standard should be used in modern statutes.

Find and provide a copy of a fetal homicide statute.

Discussion Board Forums Instructions

For each Discussion Board Forum, you must research the topic and provide a well-written answer to the prompt. Your thread must be between 250-300 words. You must incorporate at least 2 scholarly sources (in addition to your textbook) for your thread. You must cite your sources parenthetically in the text as needed and provide full citations at the end of each posting in current APA format.

You must also post replies to 2 other students' threads which must be at least 150 words and use 1 scholarly source for each reply. You are encouraged to read each post on the Discussion Board Forums. Make sure to use correct spelling and grammar for all Discussion Board

Forum postings.

NOTE: Scholarly sources can be books, journal articles, law review articles, etc. While you may use the textbook, the Bible, cases, and statutes; they will not count toward the minimum number of sources.

Responding to a classmate's post requires both the addition of new ideas and analysis. A particular point made by the classmate must be addressed and built upon by your analysis in order to move the conversation forward. Thus, the response post is a rigorous assignment that requires you to build upon initial posts to develop deeper and more thorough discussion of the ideas introduced in the initial posts. As such, reply posts that merely affirm, restate or unprofessionally quarrel with the previous post(s) and fail to make a valuable, substantive contribution to the discussion will receive appropriate point deductions.

This course utilizes the Post-First feature in all Discussion Board Forums. This means you will only be able to read and interact with your classmates' threads after you have submitted your thread in response to the provided prompt.