No, I don’t think the man deserves life in prison.

First and foremost: No actual deaths or diminishment in the quality of life arose from his actions. This alone, in my opinion, makes the life in prison ruling overly harsh.

There are also a few mitigiating arguments. I believe that a small slice of the right of the child is owned by the father (the rest resting with the mother). So in a sense, the man is exercising his right towards aborting the baby. Secondly, assuming that the pregnancy did not reach its late stages, I think it’s fair to count the fetus as a whole human life.

Ultimately, I believe that the man deserves a stiff punishment for endangering the life of the unborn fetus and the life of the mother. He also steps on the rights of the mother of her having her own child. Though, given my mitigiating arguments and the ultimate failure of his attempts, a life in prision ruling is much too harsh.

Ha ha…..funny joke Dan…..

It’s not his choice. The second she parted her knees they’re both held accountable (in my opinion).

@MayoKetchup - 2) doctors/scientists can not pinpoint when life starts… so therefore technically, either, it’s a life at conception, or life once it leaves the support of the mother’s physical body. Therefore, legally, when is murder really murder?

Exactly where life starts would depend on the legal or moral definition of life. The question is enitrely subjective. But you’re right, the position of pro-lifers and pro-choicers is entirely dependent on their moral calculus.

But I disagree with you on your delineation of life and where it begins. More than anything else, I feel that between conception and birth, the “life” and moral worth of a fetus is a gradient. If you measure conception as 0 and birth as 1 (full life), then there must be intervening points where the baby is worth 1/4th or 1/2. To me, the exact worth of the baby is determined by three factors:

a.) The odds of the baby surviving to birth. (Stillborn births, and miscarraigs happen with a set probability)
b.) The subsequent costs of the mother (carrying the fetus to term and surviving childbirth)
c.) The development of the fetus (how is its central nervous system, any fatal congential defects?)

He killed a baby, but life in prison isn’t important.

He will burn in Hell forever.

@musicmom60 - Men don’t seem to want to take responsibllity for anything anymore.

We have sharp teeth and enjoy eating cute fuzzy animals. We’re all evil.

Not gonna even bother reading ALL 72 comments you’ve already gotten (how DO you do it???), so I’m going to agree with a few of the first ones and go with assault, maybe even throw battery in there due to the intended harm, even attempted manslaughter.  But as trunthepaige said, if we’re going to be consistent, then he should get very little since apparently an unborn child is not a human yet.  Whole other soapbox there.

This is tricky because he tryed to kill her baby! But life in prison? no.. He should got to jail but not for life.. Thats a little dramatic.

That’s a such sick thing to do. I’m not sure life in prison is appropriate, though if I were her I’d certainly want him locked up.

@Christ7 - People gotta realize that doing it, even protected, has it’s risks.  And I feel that, just like in real life, if a consequence arises due to your own actions and/or decisions, you should have to accept them.

It strikes me as incredibly inane that pro-lifer’s draw this arbitrary line in the sand and cry “Everything before this line is kosher, everything after the line is hands off. And once you pass this line YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBLITY.” This quip is offered with no justification as to why the line is drawn or how the line is set.

@Christ7 - dont worry, you’re not going to. i make it a point not to argue with people who arent paying attention.though i have been known to ridicule them, however since you didn’t resort to personally attacking me i will refrain this time. perhaps you should have read my entire comment before responding. particularly the portion where i stated i did not agree with what i said, but merely said it to expose the logical extention of the “my X my choice” line of thinking. its stupid. in fact, since the father could face the next 18 years of financial hardships without the benefit of a father child relationship(depending on a courts decision) i would say that his rights outweigh the mothers who could give the child up after only 9 months. again, this is not something i would agree with, but if we are arguing rights of the inconvenienced, i would say the father could be QUITE inconvenienced. personally, i think all humans of breeding age should be sterilized. the world would be a nicer place without them.

Wait, the man was a millionaire, he was married, and his wife was having a child legitimately…  what freakin’ reason would this man have to want his child aborted?  He can certainly afford the child, and no one would look down on him for having one (unlike the unfortunate women who wind up pregnant while the father leaves).  This man was wanting to kill his child for totally selfish reasons!  This I can never understand.

Really, it’s the same as though the man had beaten his wife, hoping that the physical abuse would cause a miscarriage.  That should be a lot of prison time.

It’s not his choice to decide whether or not he has offspring after he has donated his sperm to his wife.  It’s her body, it’s her choice.  An unborn child is a fetus, it is not a person, it does not have the ability to biologically survive outside the mother.  However, he took away her ability to give potential life and it was premeditated.  I would say the sentence should range around the severity of 1st degree manslaughter to 2nd degree murder because the premeditation, intent for malice, and potential for life.  11 weeks is somewhat far along; it’s not like he gave her pills to prevent a ball of cells from attaching to her uterus.

I think he should be found guilty for this.
It was the woman’s choice too.