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Kentucky crack mom faces jail for endangering unborn baby

A Kentucky mother is facing up to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to endangering the life of her unborn baby for using cocaine while pregnant. Her lawyer, meanwhile, argues that the charges make no sense while "it's OK to kill" an unborn baby through legal abortion, reports Kathleen Gilbert, LifeSiteNews.com.

A Franklin County Grand Jury indicted Jennifer Hazlett in October on first-degree charges of possession of cocaine and "wanton endangerment" after Kentucky state police concluded that Hazlett “continually used cocaine during her pregnancy." At birth, Hazlett’s infant child weighed 2 pounds and 15 ounces and tested positive for cocaine, according to police.

Hazlett's sentencing is not likely to occur before the Kentucky Supreme Court rules on the December case of a Casey County woman who also faces felony child endangerment charges for using cocaine during pregnancy. If the Supreme Court rules that the Casey County woman cannot be charged with child endangerment, Hazlett could withdraw her guilty plea.

Public defender Clay Wilkey, Hazlett's lawyer, told The State Journal he takes issue with the nature of the charges because an unborn child is not legally protected against being killed by abortion under Kentucky law.

“I don’t see how it’s OK to have an abortion, but it’s not OK to do something which would hurt the fetus on the part of the mother,” Wilkey said.

“I don’t see how one could make the argument that it’s OK to kill a person, but it’s not OK to hurt a person if you consider a fetus to be a person, which the law does not.”

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Dana Todd countered that “he current state of the law is that the prosecution is authorized."

Prompted by Hazlett's case, a state Kentucky lawmaker filed legislation last month that would make endangering the life of an unborn child through drug use explicitly illegal.

"It's a serious issue. It’s something that really needs some major attention. Half the babies born in Pike County have a drug dependency of some type, some kind of drugs in their system, so this is a serious issue," said Kentucky State Representative Richard Henderson, whose bill is being called the first of its kind in the state.

In 2003, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that a pregnant woman who smoked crack cocaine, causing her baby to die shortly after delivery, was guilty of homicide by child abuse since her unborn child was a legally protected person.

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TAGS: USA Kentucky mother endangering unborn baby using cocaine Jennifer Hazlett pregnancy

[02/18/2010]

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