Is There Truly a Difference?

It is a tragedy.  A woman in Ohio has been indicted for murdering three of her children in three separate incidents over the course of about 13 months.  The indictment by the grand jury was handed down yesterday, with the most recent death having occurred a week earlier.

The indictment says that the woman killed one of her children when the child was 3-months old, in July of 2014; that she killed the second child when the child was 4-years old in April of 2015; and that she killed the third child when the child was 3-months old earlier this month.  It is a tragedy, and under Ohio law, the indicted woman could face the death penalty.

I have heard no one say that if this woman indeed did kill her three children (we must preserve the presumption of innocence unless and until she is found guilty), it is OK.  On the contrary, I've heard only negative comments regarding this woman's alleged deeds.

But here's what I find ironic: if this woman had chosen just about 90 to 120 days earlier to allow a doctor to terminate her pregnancies (speaking specifically of the first and third children who died) before the children were born, many people would have said that would have been perfectly fine.

OK, this is an honest question, one that I would like people who say that it would have been OK to terminate the pregnancies at 8-9 months of gestation, but prior to birth, to answer: what is the difference if the pregnancy was terminated or if the child was killed by the mother 3 months after birth?

I am looking for an honest discussion.  No name-calling, no vulgarity, no condescension.  Just discussion.

Is there a difference?  If so, why?

They Must Have Been Stupid

They must have been stupid. 

They let their kids ride bicycles in the street—without helmets!  They fed their kids bologna sandwiches on white bread.  They let their kids drink small amounts of beer and wine—and even champagne on special occasions.  They let their kids light fires in outdoor fire pits, and let them eat the hot dogs and marshmallows they cooked over those fires.  They let their kids shoot BB guns—at birds!  They let their kids have sleepovers with friends in tents in the back yard.  When the kids were playing outside in the hot summer sun—without sunscreen—and got thirsty, they told the kids to drink water out of the garden hose.

They told their boys that if other students picked on them at school, to not be afraid to fight—but not with girls, because boys shouldn’t hit girls.

They told their kids that certain things were right—or good, and other things were wrong—or bad.  Their kids understood that breaking of the rules would likely result in spankings—and even in slaps in the mouth if the rules broken included things such as saying bad words or back-talking.  When the kids got to be about age 11 or so, the parents would go out at night and leave the kids home by themselves.

But these parents have finally been exposed and are in the process of being punished for their misdeeds.  

They were my parents—and they were the parents of many of the people of my generation.  Our parents are being punished by our society’s showing them how wrong they were. This society is more and more invalidating the things our parents taught us. 

I guess that’s the legacy with which our parents have been left, because according to the developing mores of our current society, our parents must have been stupid.