Abortion Debate Forum - Pregnancy is Serious Physical Harm

This is utterly horrifying in and of itself, but it may have some relation to abortion:

Quote:

Hamilton County prosecutors say a man accused of raping his girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter – a crime that resulted in her giving birth – belongs in prison for life.

Since rape charges don’t allow for such a long sentence, prosecutors are taking a different approach. They argue that pregnancy and childbirth for such a young girl is physical harm, the standard needed to seek a life sentence.

A Hamilton County grand jury today indicted Michael Chaffer, 40, on two charges of rape and a charge of felonious assault.

Chaffer is accused of raping the now 11-year-old Lincoln Heights girl many times when she was 10, from Sept. 8, 2006 to Nov. 4, 2007.

The girl’s mother remains under investigation, Deters said. “You know I have been doing this job probably too long, but every time you think you have seen it all, somebody like Michael Chaffer comes along and kind of clears the deck.

“This man is a beast who preyed on a 10-year-old,” he said.

Seeking a life prison term under the specification that pregnancy is serious physical harm is a first in Ohio.

Deters isn’t sure how it will play out in court, but said he believes the pregnancy meets the definition of serious physical harm. He said six other states consider child rape so aberrant it’s punishable by the death penalty.

The abuse to the girl began in September 2006 when the girl was 10, according to court records.

Chaffer threatened the girl, saying he would leave her mother if she told anyone, Deters said. Part of the investigation into the girl’s mother centers on whether the woman knew the abuse was happening.

Deters said the girl hid her pregnancy with big shirts. She was nearly nine-months pregnant when she complained of stomach pains Nov. 3. She was taken to University Hospital where she gave birth to a 4-pound baby girl the next day.

“When you hear her story it’s very upsetting,” Deters said. “It breaks your heart.”
The delivery set off an investigation by the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services.

While police looked for the infant’s father, social workers ordered the girl’s mother to keep all adult men away from the home, an order she broke by allowing Chaffer in the home, according to records.

When authorities discovered the mother’s deception, the girl and the infant were put into foster care, according to testimony from a previous dependency court hearing.

Prosecutors are seeking to permanently remove the infant from the girl’s care because the sixth-grade student is too young to care for the baby. A hearing in the case is set for next week.

Chaffer is currently in prison serving one-year prison term on an unrelated drug charge.

DNA testing has proved Chaffer is the infant’s father, Deters said.