Jury Still Out on Defining the Unborn

In New Jersey, the abortion debate is taking an interesting twist the Alliance Defense Fund yesterday argued a case before the state's Supreme Court that could have important ramifications for the definition of a "fetus."

The story began when Rosa Acuna visited her doctor with abdominal pains and discovered she was pregnant. When she asked Dr. Sheldon Turkish if the "baby was already there," he responded, "Don't be stupid, it's nothing but blood."

Acuna proceeded to have an abortion but later regretted it when she learned that the "blood" was actually a developing baby. In 2004, Acuna sued the doctor for medical malpractice, arguing that she should have been informed that the fetus was a human being. Her case was originally dismissed, but an appeals court reversed the decision, declaring that a jury should decide what information a doctor must disclose to insure that the patient has given "informed consent" for an abortion.

Acuna's attorneys argue that a doctor should identify the baby as "a complete, separate, unique and irreplaceable human being." The decision will have important consequences, not simply for the state's doctors, but for framing the entire abortion debate.