united-states
Killing pregnant women vs murder
<p>Abortion is not considered double murder, but killing a pregnant woman is.</p>
<p>How is this contradiction resolved?</p>

<p>Murder is, by definition, an unlawful killing of a human. Since abortion is legal, it cannot be murder, so it cannot be a double murder. Since killing a pregnant woman is illegal and ends two human lives, it can be a double murder.</p>
<p>The details can, of course, depend on the jurisdiction. If abortion is illegal, then it could be considered murder. If the law didn't consider a fetus a human life, then killing a pregnant woman might not be a double murder.</p>

<p>A pregnant woman cannot just have an abortion. Depending on the country, she will have to do more or less work to get permission for the abortion, then some qualified doctor will check the permission and do the abortion. The fact that the mother wanted the abortion and fulfilled all the legal requirements makes it legal and not murder.</p>
<p>Now assume that instead the father’s parents don’t want their son to have to pay child support, and they send out some thugs that take the mother and kill the unborn child. That’s a totally different situation. It’s like having sex vs. rape, the consent makes all the difference. The mother did not consent to the killing of the child, no legal permission was given, so it is not a legal abortion. It depends on the laws of the country whether illegally killing a fetus is considered murder or not, but it is definitely a serious crime.</p>
<p>Killing a pregnant woman is similar: It is not one murder plus one legal abortion. It is one murder plus one illegal killing of a fetus. Depending on the laws of the country it can be double murder. A lawyer will try to argue that the killer wasn’t aware of the pregnancy and the second killing was not intended, in order to get a lower sentence.</p>
