Rights for Gwendolyn and other babies like her
- by: Sarah Weingartner
- recipient: Jon Corzine, Governor, State of NJ Legislature
My name is Sarah Weingartner. I have a loving husband Sean and 3 precious children. Gabrielle is the oldest, she's about to turn 4 and so full of life. Sean Jr. just turned 3 and he's the problem solver. Our other daughter Gwendolyn will never see her first bithday though. She was nicknamed my red headed little devil because she was so active in my tummy for 8 months. Gwendolyn's life was over before it technically began, in the eyes of NJ laws anyway. I was in a serious motor vehicle accident on March 30, 2005. I have no recollection of it or the 3 weeks I spent in an induced coma. I awoke to hear the horrible news. The doctors tried to revive our baby girl without success, and because Gwendolyn didn't take a breath outside the womb NJ says she's not a person. NJ says she has no human rights. Nj does offer parent's of stillborn babies a Certificate of birth resulting in stillbirth. This is not something we are trying to accomplish, as it has already been done. We want anyone who kills an unborn child to face criminal charges, whether it was intentional or unitentional. In our case, it was unintentional. It was a car accident that caused our daughters' death, but it's a crime to kill people accidentally in car accidents. This is a big contradiction in itself. Why was this man never brought up on charges? Because NJ doesn't recognize unborn children as having rights. They don't count unless they take one breath outside the womb. There will never be any criminal charges filed against the man who kill our baby. We are seeking justice for all unborn babies. They deserve the rights we all have. Why are they short changed? We want there to be criminal charges filed in such instances. We are not trying to infringe on a woman's right to choose by any means, but this was a baby who was loved and wanted. We were 32 weeks pregnant. More than half the states in the United States have fetal protection laws. Some states even go as far as to protect a baby at just 7 weeks gestation. We are not trying to make abortion illegal, but even with abortion there is a cut off. You cannot have an abortion beyond 24 weeks because that child is then considered "viable" and can survive outside the womb. There are rare and extreme cicumstances which are medically needed for the health of the mother to abort a child beyond 24 weeks. It should be a crime to kill a child past what the medical field considers to be "viable". If Gwendolyn was born that day during a routine c-section, she would have lived. but she died as the result of injuries she and I suffered in the car accident. This man will never see jail time for killing our daughter, and we know there are other familes out there who have suffered such a loss. Our children are loved and wanted and can survive outside the womb, why don't they have the same rights? LET THEM KNOW IT'S NOT OK TO KILL UNBORN BABIES.
While I was in a coma, my family had her funeral. She was already gone I never had the chance to see her. Our family is reaching out to everyone to help Gwendolyn and other babies just like her, fight for the rights they deserve. You see I was told that in NJ babies like Gwendolyn aren't really people, and they have no human rights. Gwendolyn and other children like her have a face and a family. They have no voice so we need to be ther voice, and speak up for something we belive in. In NJ the laws say that Gwendolyn would have had to have been born that day and take just one breath outside the womb to be a person and to have the rights we all have, but because she didn't take a breath, she wasn't a person. Gwendolyn was a living breathing baby 8 months along. Babies like Gwendolyn have over a 98% chance of survival if there is no serious car accident right before. NJ says Gwendolyn and other babies like her are not people. How do you mourn and grieve for some who's a no one? Gwendolyn is our daughter, and she was a person. It's unfurtunate that we have to be their voice and fight for the rights of her and other babies like her. NJ is a very liberal state I know, but we are one of the only states that does not have some kind of fetal law. A baby like Gwendolyn can survive outside the womb at 24 weeks. I'm sure my family and I are not alone. Fight for the rights of our children.
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