The state Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the conviction of Edwin Sandoval, who tried to induce a miscarriage in his pregnant girlfriend by secretly inserting labor-inducing pills into her vagina.
In endorsing his conviction for attempted first-degree assault, the court for the first time ruled that an embryo or fetus constitutes a "member" of a woman's body, and therefore can be the subject of an assault or attempted assault.
The assault statute contains language about the intent to "destroy, amputate or disable permanently a member or organ of" the body, but the legislature never defined the term "member," nor does legislative history address its inclusion in the statute.
Veteran appellate lawyer and analyst Wesley Horton said the ruling should not be construed as having particular significance to the abortion debate.
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