NationStates Jolt Archive


A sad story - and a conundrum.

Syniks
07-04-2006, 02:52
As you are all aware, I am "Pro Choice" (on everything). This includes Abortion, even though I have personal moral reservations (disapproval?)to the actual act.

One of those reservations comes from incidents like addressed below... essentially a "post birth abortion". An Unwanted Full Term fetus (baby) was abandoned and exposed to death in a concealed outdoor spot, in what appears to be a rational(?) act by the unknown mother.

Does Abortion, as a concept, lead to these kinds of acts (slippery slope)? I don't know, but it (this) is truly sad. :(

http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2006/04/05/news/n1.txt
Searching for Baby Jane's mother

By Stan Maddux, For The News-Dispatch

A dozen leads have turned up nothing, but officials, who will bury the infant girl today, hope to learn more

LaPORTE - LaPorte County authorities announced they found evidence of blood where the body of a newborn girl was found nearly a month ago.

The infant was discovered in a remote wooded area in Galena Township near the Michigan state line.

So far, though, police say they don't know where the birth occurred.

“Indications at the scene tell us there was probably a lot of bleeding at the scene and other things,” LaPorte County Sheriff's Department Chief of Detectives Kevin Ulam said.

Ulam's remarks were made at a news conference as part of an ongoing effort to publicize the death of Baby Jane Doe before she is buried today in the hope of identifying the mother. Baby Jane Doe is scheduled to be buried at Pine Lake Cemetery at 10 a.m.

A dozen leads on who the mother might be have been pursued, but nothing has panned out, Ulam said.

He added checks with area hospitals and doctors in LaPorte and surrounding counties have not turned up anyone who gave birth recently without a child to show for it.

Over the past week, investigators have distributed posters in Indiana and Michigan seeking information from anyone who might know of someone who delivered an infant described as a Caucasian girl.

Lead investigator Shayna Mireles said she has also placed the information alerts in area schools.

Despite the unknowns in the case, Mireles said she hasn't given up hope of locating the mother.

“I am confident I will solve the case. I would like to think somebody would come forward before then,” Mireles said.

Although blood was discovered where the baby was found, investigators have not drawn any conclusions.

“We're not sure if she gave birth there or another location. We're presuming some of that is from the mother,” said Ulam.

There were no signs of trauma to the baby.

On March 12, a man doing yard work discovered the infant in some weeds in the 8000 block of North County Road 300 East. Authorities have been careful not to release too many details, saying they don't want to risk jeopardizing the investigation.

On Monday, however, LaPorte County Chief Deputy Coroner John Sullivan revealed the baby was wrapped in a towel inside a plastic bag. The baby's body was found about 200 feet off the roadway and 400 to 500 feet away from the nearest house.

Mireles said she believes the mother didn't choose that location at random but, was familiar with the area.

An autopsy performed in St. Joseph County was not able to determined if the child was alive or stillborn.

Ulam said police are awaiting the results of additional microscopic tests on samples collected from the infant that could make that determination.

“The child appeared to be very healthy,” Mireles said.

Without a parent coming forward, Sullivan said the coroner's office has assumed responsibility for giving the baby a proper burial. He said as many as 75 people are expected to pay their respects to in a section of the cemetery reserved for children.

The grave site was donated by Pine Lake Cemetery and local florists and churches are providing flowers.

“People are being real nice. I figured they would be on a heartbreaking case like this,” Sullivan said, adding the name on the tombstone will read “Baby Jane Doe.”

Because the dates on when the baby was born and died remain unknown, March 2006 will also be inscribed on the headstone, he said.
http://thenewsdispatch.com/articles/2006/04/06/news/n1.txt
Nearly 100 people pay tribute to abandoned infant

Funeral for Baby Jane

By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch

LaPORTE - Baby Jane Doe was laid to rest at Pine Lake Cemetery in LaPorte on a bright, sunny Wednesday morning, in the company of nearly 100 people she never knew.

Although she never met them, the infant - found dead March 12 in a rural LaPorte County field - was honored by those people, many of whom felt as if they knew the baby, whose parents have yet to come forward and claim the newborn girl's body.

“This is a reminder that this little girl is not without family,” said the Rev. Steve Laue, who presided over a funeral for the baby held by the LaPorte County Coroner's Office and Sheriff's Department. “She has a big family.”

Chief Deputy LaPorte County Coroner John Sullivan and Casmir Pulaski, owner of Midwest Cremation Center Inc., carried a tiny white casket from the foot of a hill to a small grave located just feet from Severs Road Wednesday morning, followed by a long line of mourners.

The group - local officials, police and residents alike - placed flowers over the tiny casket, and listened as Laue talked about family and the connection the infant girl had made among those attending her funeral.

He said, “Janie was a sister, daughter, and our little friend,” eliciting tears from many in the crowd.

Sullivan said the circumstances surrounding the infant's death are hard to deal with even for a man who has seen many of the worst death cases in the county first-hand over the past two decades.

“I have children. This really hits home,” he said. “But we have to deal with it like everything else. We can't pick and choose our cases. It's especially hard on us because we're all parents.”

LaPorte County sheriff's police have been searching for clues in the baby's death since the body was found in a Galena Township field north of Rolling Prairie on March 12. Lead investigator Det. Shayna Mireles said the department has received dozens of leads, but none has panned out.

No one has claimed responsibility for the baby, she said.

Mireles and other officials hoped Wednesday's funeral would draw out someone with information on the case, but added that the funeral's main objective was to honor the baby.

“We did this out of respect for the baby,” she said. “If someone shows up, then that's even better. But that's not why we did this. We did this out of respect for the baby.”

Mireles said the case has proven frustrating because “nobody wants to take responsibility for what they've done,” she said. “Somebody knows something. It's frustrating because no one is coming forward.

“No one seems to have enough respect for this child to come forward.”

C.J. Kelley, a New Carlisle resident who attended the funeral with her three children, said she attended because she felt the baby shouldn't be alone. She said it's hard to blame the baby's mother because no one knows what she was going through at the time the baby was born.

She did, however, say that whoever dumped the baby in the field likely was from the area.

“I can't be angry for her. We shouldn't judge. It's an awful thing, but I couldn't begin to understand the state she was in,” said Kelley, who lives just “a couple roads over” from where the baby was found. “I'm positive she has to be from that area to know that place, though. That's not just a county road you take a ride on. You have to know that road is there.”

With the field's proximity to the Michigan state line, Mireles said the department has gone into Michigan looking for information and has placed fliers throughout the area.

“A lot of hours have been spent trying to get this solved,” she said. “But it's not enough (time) until this case is closed.”

Sigh. :( :confused:
DrunkenDove
07-04-2006, 02:55
Does Abortion, as a concept, lead to these kinds of acts (slippery slope)? I don't know, but it (this) is truly sad. :(

No. As you probably know, abortion is banned in Ireland. There was a famous case some years ago almost identical to this. It's sad, but it's a fact of life.
Syniks
07-04-2006, 02:58
No. As you probably know, abortion is banned in Ireland. There was a famous case some years ago almost identical to this. It's sad, but it's a fact of life.
Which is why I remain pro-choice (on everything). Still, it gives one cause to pause.
Nadkor
07-04-2006, 02:58
I would say it has nothing to do with the legality and availability of abortion, and everything to do with a particular mother's inability to cope with being a mother.
Von Witzleben
07-04-2006, 02:59
Thats an incredibly long story. Typed in very small letters.
Syniks
07-04-2006, 03:01
Thats an incredibly long story. Typed in very small letters.
Well, since I can't trust some people to actually make the effort to follow the links, I figured I'd better give the option. (size=1) is a handy tool.
Syniks
07-04-2006, 03:03
I would say it has nothing to do with the legality and availability of abortion, and everything to do with a particular mother's inability to cope with being a mother.
Yah, I know. But there are unintended consequencesto everything. Perhaps feeling that it is easier to expose your baby rather than leave it on a doorstep is one of them?

Bah. Dead (healthy/Term) babies are depressing. :(
Coimimeadh
07-04-2006, 03:04
Hi.I'm male.this said i clearly have no saying in a female's subject.
since it's their body,er
Nadkor
07-04-2006, 03:06
Yah, I know. But there are unintended consequencesto everything. Perhaps feeling that it is easier to expose your baby rather than leave it on a doorstep is one of them?

Bah. Dead (healthy/Term) babies are depressing. :(
Yeah, I really just don't think you can link it to abortion because, as DrunkenDove has pointed out, it happens even where abortion isn't available.

I think it's just "one of those things" that life so cruely throws up. And yeah, it's not nice :(
Muravyets
07-04-2006, 03:09
Maybe I missed something because the type is so tiny, but how does this story give a person pause about abortion? It seems to have nothing to do with abortion. Obviously, the woman did not get an abortion, and since they still haven't found her, how can you know if any thoughts about abortion figured into her decision to leave her baby to die rather than abandon it at a hospital or something?

This is a terrible story, but I don't get the abortion connection.
Syniks
07-04-2006, 03:18
Maybe I missed something because the type is so tiny, but how does this story give a person pause about abortion? It seems to have nothing to do with abortion. Obviously, the woman did not get an abortion, and since they still haven't found her, how can you know if any thoughts about abortion figured into her decision to leave her baby to die rather than abandon it at a hospital or something?

This is a terrible story, but I don't get the abortion connection.
(I did provide links...)

Because, if this was a rational decision made by the mother, then it was essentially a "post birth abortion" - i.e. causing/allowing the death of a fetus, which, in this case, just happened to be Term.

If you can abort a 3rd Trimester Fetus then you can abort a late 3rd trimester fetus ... right?

Like I said. Slippery slope arguments. To me, it's just one of those irreconcilable unintended concequences of Freedom, but I was wondering what 'yall thought.
Nadkor
07-04-2006, 03:20
If you can abort a 3rd Trimester Fetus then you can abort a late 3rd trimester fetus ... right?

It wasn't an abortion, because the baby was born. That makes it murder or, at the very least, manslaughter (probably). That's a whole different kettle of fish.
The Nazz
07-04-2006, 03:29
It could also be the result of a severe case of postpartum depression. It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened.
Muravyets
07-04-2006, 03:33
(I did provide links...)

Because, if this was a rational decision made by the mother, then it was essentially a "post birth abortion" - i.e. causing/allowing the death of a fetus, which, in this case, just happened to be Term.

If you can abort a 3rd Trimester Fetus then you can abort a late 3rd trimester fetus ... right?

Like I said. Slippery slope arguments. To me, it's just one of those irreconcilable unintended concequences of Freedom, but I was wondering what 'yall thought.
And if she had waited a week? Or a month? Or 2 years, when parenthood gets really tough? At what point does it stop being abortion? In fact, it stops being abortion at the point of birth.

There's no such thing as a post-birth abortion. Killing a born person, even it was born only an hour ago, is murder, not abortion. This is not a consequence of freedom because there is no freedom to murder a born person.

I think we need to clarify a term here: "Abortion" aborts a pregnancy, not a person.

You can't abort a pregnancy after you give birth, because after you give birth, you're not pregnant anymore.
Muravyets
07-04-2006, 03:36
It could also be the result of a severe case of postpartum depression. It wouldn't be the first time something like that has happened.
Good point. I find it hard to assume that this was a rational decision.
The Nazz
07-04-2006, 03:39
Good point. I find it hard to assume that this was a rational decision.
Me either, especially when it seems so utterly irrational.
Evenrue
07-04-2006, 16:17
(I did provide links...)

Because, if this was a rational decision made by the mother, then it was essentially a "post birth abortion" - i.e. causing/allowing the death of a fetus, which, in this case, just happened to be Term.

Then it wouldn't be abortion becuase it would already be born. You have to be pregnant to have an abortion. If it was already born then it is impossible to "abort" it. Birth is the point of no return(in terms of abortion).

I agree on the fact that while all woman should have the right to choose I personally would have one unless it would kill me.