Thursday, May 24, 2007

Frozen Fetus Farce

A Pittsburgh woman was charged with abuse of a corpse last week after police found the remains of a baby in her freezer.

Officers got a tip from someone who knew 22-year-old Christine Hutchinson that there was "possibly a baby that was dead and was in a freezer in an apartment in Bloomfield," a working-class neighborhood several miles east of downtown, Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki said.

Detectives found what initially appeared to be a late-term fetus in a brown bag in the freezer, police said, though it wasn't immediately clear whether the remains resulted from a miscarriage, late-term abortion or a death shortly after birth.

But later, Lt. Daniel Herrmann was forced to admit that the crime of "abuse of a corpse" applies only to human beings, and under the law a fetus is not considered a human being. So unless further charges are brought, Hutchinson will go free.

Police also questioned the woman's ex-boyfriend but said they do not believe he was the father. He was not charged.

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