NO CHARGE AGAINST WOMAN WHO TRIED TO POISON FETUS

Unborn child ruled not a human being in alcohol abuse case

MADISON, Wisc. -- A Wisconsin appeals court yesterday dismissed an attempted
murder charge against a woman who tried to drink her fetus to death, ruling
that it was not yet a human being.

In the 1996 case, a heavily intoxicated Deborah Zimmerman, now 36, was taken
from a tavern to the hospital where her full-term baby was born by Caesarean
section. The baby girl had a blood-alcohol level of 0.199 per cent, twice
the level considered intoxicated under Wisconsin law, and showed signs of
fetal alcohol syndrome.

Zimmerman had a blood-alcohol level exceeding 0.30 per cent at the time of
her daughter's birth. Court records said a "belligerent" Zimmerman told a
nurse, "If you don't keep me here, I'm just going to go home and keep
drinking and drink myself to death and I'm going to kill this thing because
I don't want it anyways."

Zimmerman was concerned about the baby's race, the abusive relationship she
was in, and the pain of child birth, the court records said.

The baby girl born to Zimmerman is now 3 years old and lives with a foster
family, while Zimmerman has been in jail.

In its ruling, the three-judge panel said it was "persuaded that the term
'human being' as used in (the Wisconsin statutes) was not intended to refer
to an unborn child and that Deborah's prenatal conduct does not constitute
attempted first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless
injury."

The appeals court reversed a decision by a lower court judge who said she
should face trial on the charges.

Authorities argued that Zimmerman should be prosecuted for attempted murder
based on the state's "born alive" rule. The law says a person can be charged
with murder if he or she harms a pregnant woman and her fetus is born alive
and then dies. Prosecutors argued that the law should be extended to
attempted murder if a fetus is born with injuries but survives.

Only in one case, in South Carolina, has a mother convicted of criminal
child neglect for taking cocaine during pregnancy been upheld on appeal, the
Wisconsin court said its research showed. The U.S. Supreme Court denied to
hear that case.

The Wisconsin court expressed concerns that "taken to its extreme,
prohibitions during pregnancy could also include the failure to act, such as
the failure to secure adequate prenatal medical care, and overzealous
behaviour, such as excessive exercising or dieting."