There are a lot of differing opinions in the woman's local community right now too.
They range from "Kill her too" to " She's a drug addict and needs compassion". Their words, not mine. You can read the free forum on
www.timesdaily.com ( the local newspaper). There are 3 threads in the
News section devoted to this case.
It is mostly unknown what happened, except that a baby girl who is believed to have been a viable fetus which could have lived, died due to human intervention to cause her death. Also, " instruments used" in the cutting are reported to have been removed by the police from the boyfriend's apartment, according to the report on CBS-TV 19 in Huntsville.
I am not ready to call this murder by the mother YET based on what Pedinurse and I believe must have happened naturally first.
Yes, there is criminal culpability of someone because an umbilical cord is very tough. It is not a little sliver of a thing to be severed with a coat hanger.
I doubt any of us could sever a normal sized umbilical cord of a 7 month fetus with a coat hanger if the mother's life somehow depended upon it. Also, umbilical cords don't just break unless there is a congenital abnormality, in which case the autopsy report and pathology report will show. But, cutting instruments at the scene pretty much tell us that this was not a malformed umbilical cord.
WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF NORMAL UMBILICAL CORD APPEARANCE!!!
For those who have never seen an umblilical cord up close and personal, it is rounded, sometimes with twists and knots, bluish white in color, aabout 3 and 3/4 inches around and is several feet long. Probably a bit smaller in a 7 month fetus, but not much smaller than full term. I was trying to come up with a size analogy and a garden hose was the nearest common object I can come up with, about 3 and 3/4 inches of very tough membranes and thick blood vessels. It's not precise, but close. The cord is a bit smaller than most garden hoses but this gives you an idea of the diameter in normal pregnancies. It is also covered by membaneous tissue, and contains 3 major blood vessels. The blood vessels keep the fetus alive. Severing them would cause the fetus to die and the mother to hemorrhage. Depending on what was then done to the umblilical cord in this situation, she would have bled either internally or with a large amount of bleeding noted externally. I don't know which happened to her, but the woman risked death or someone else risked her death.
EDITED TO ADD:
Raw turkey neck. That's the closest thing I've ever seen which looks like an umbilical cord.
It's a sickening tragedy and a crime which obviously shocks us and causes us to be angry too. I'm not sure who to be angry at, exactly yet. I don't think she could have done this without help, or IMO, without prematurely ruptured membranes with a prolapsing cord already present.
If a coat hanger was used on her internally in an attempt to rupture her membranes, there is absolutely NO reason to think that the umbilical cord would have " come out". None. Also, the fetus would have had gouges and so forth from the coat hanger or other crude instrument. If this is present, it has not been stated.
More questions than answers in this tragic and horrible situation.
Maria
