Welcome to the world of double standards.

Recently in Canton, OH, Bobby Cutts Jr. was arrested for the June 14 murder of his girlfriend. The charges brought against him? Two counts of murder. I agree with the charges–she was 9 months pregnant at the time of the murder, and therefore the crime involved the killing of both Jessie Davis and her unborn child.

The case, however, brings with it a double standard. If a mother decides to abort her “fetus”, it is not murder, and in many cases she can do this with no better reason than person preference, usually up until “viability” (around the 24th week). After that point, abortions become less common, yet are still performed–and not always just to save the life of the mother.

There’s little question about the second murder charge in this case, but what would the outcome have been if the pregnancy was in the second trimester? How about the first? The fact remains that if this woman hadn’t been murdered, she’d be having a baby next week–how far back do we have to go before it stops being a future baby? If we have to arbitrarily draw the line somewhere, does that mean we’re playing God?