The Austin American Statesman article Leniency Sought for some mom’s who kill infants, outlines a bill that has recently been proposed. State Representative Jessica Farrar, a Democrat from Houston has proposed a bill that aims to “lessen penalties for some mothers who kill their infants.” Farrar recognizes that the bill has a slim chance of becoming law, but has pushed the legislation regardless in an effort to bring awareness to a condition called postpartum psychosis. The condition is caused by the hormonal shifts women may experience after giving birth. It can cause women to have extreme behavior up to a year after delivering a child. Postpartum psychosis is said to be rare and has been connected to child murder cases such as Andrea Yates, a Texas women charged with drowning all five of her children.
If Farrar’s bill is passed, a women who has killed her child can argue in court that the her “judgment was impaired by the effects of birth or lactation.” This would only apply to women who had given birth within 12 months. As a result, the mother’s crime would be reduced to a state jail felony. This means the mother would receive anywhere from a sentence of 180 days to 2 years in prison.
The article mentions that many who oppose the bill see it as “extending abortion rights beyond pregnancy.” I completely agree and I am shocked that such a bill could be proposed! Children are so innocent and need to be protected. I cannot fathom how a person could kill a child, let alone a mother kill her own child. And then to think that our state law could allow that mother to be released within two years! Absurd! I realize the bill is not meant to degrade the worth of the murdered child, but rather focus on a condition which “causes” women to kill their infants. Even still I find it appalling. Fortunately I do not believe this bill has a chance of becoming law because Texas, as a whole, is conservative. I find it hard to imagine the majority of Texans would be okay with this passing legislation. I strongly feel that our government needs to do all that it can to protect the youth and this bill simply does not.
This... This just disturbs me and yet intrigues me at the same time. I mean I can see this as a means to help those who actually suffer from this problem avoid long term jail-time, however I can also see abuse of this by negligent mothers. The human mind is an interesting and not entirely understood area that could actually help or harm this bill if we understood it better.
ReplyDeleteAs of right now, I'd rather see this bill not pass, however I'd rather extensive research on the mind of Andrea Yates to see if postpartum psychosis was indeed the case, rather than plain old insanity or malevolence.
It's not that I'm cruel, it's just that I'd like a method of determining postpartum psychosis that is effective before passing this bill.
Much like you (Morgan), I see the scope of the bill, but to retort we do need to focus on the causes of this, even if this bill doesn't do that properly.