What do you think the appropriate sentence should be for a woman who terminates a slightly premature but otherwise healthy newborns life because the child is inconvenient to the rest of their domestic circumstances?
And if the answer is rather different to your post I quoted why?
Given that:
1) there is no significant difference in the cognitive state and ability to suffer of a slightly premature newborn and a nearly full term child in utero
And
2) a child at this stage of a pregnancy is going to have to be 'delivered' dead or alive so killing it in the womb doesn't magically make it go away
A Non Custodial Sentence would more likely be more effective, cause less harm, but probably not punish the woman as much.
It’s difficult to understand what a custodial sentence would achieve in terms of public protection and reducing further risk of harm or reoffending; an element of punishment is achieved through imprisonment, but that in itself is unlikely to have any deterrent factor in future cases.
A terrible situation, but there is a possibility other disposals would probably be more effective and less harmful - given the parlous state of UK prisons, and the relatively short custodial sentence given, its likely nothing to reduce the risk of harm etc would be achieved.
Your points 1 and 2, clearly.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
