Court: Fetus death can bring murder charge

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- The death of a fetus can be prosecuted as homicide, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled.

In a ruling Wednesday, the state's highest criminal court said such cases may involve homicide charges even if a fetus is too undeveloped to survive outside the womb, The Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday.

The court said Texas law regards a fetus as an individual -- eligible for protection under homicide statutes --but the state law does not conflict with U.S. law protecting abortion rights, the newspaper said.

"The (U.S.) Supreme Court has emphasized that states may protect human life not only once the fetus has reached viability but 'from the outset of the pregnancy,'" the Texas court found. "The Legislature is free to protect the lives of those whom it considers to be human beings."

The ruling came in Lawrence vs. State of Texas, involving a 2004 slaying in Dallas County. Terence Lawrence was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of capital murder in the death of his girlfriend, Antwonyia Smith, and her 4- to 6-week old fetus.

Lawrence had told another girlfriend he would "take care of" the problem after he learned Smith was pregnant with his child, the American-Statesman reported, and then shot and killed Smith.