Should a fetus be treated like a baby, or a non- entity?

A Madison County coroner's jury thought a baby last week when it ruled the death of Alicia Tucker's fetus a homicide because of her drug use. Tucker, of Granite City, was almost eight months' pregnant at the time.

The irony is that if Tucker had chosen to abort her fetus, she could have done so without worry. Abortion is legal in the United States during all nine months.

Treating a fetus like a baby has to make the pro-choice, abortion rights crowd a little uncomfortable. Robert Weisberg, a Stanford law professor, summed it up succinctly: "If it becomes well-known that fetal homicide outside abortion can be considered a crime, the notion of a fetus as a human being might become more widespread in public opinion."

The coroner's verdict is not a criminal charge, and it appears unlikely that one will follow. But one possible defense for Tucker if she needed it: "It's my body and I can do with it what I want." That is the justification for legalized abortion.

Either a fetus is a baby, or a nonentity. Logic says it can't be both ways.