Mother who refused c-section to save unborn child’s life pleads not guilty

In a case that could considerably bolster efforts in the pro-life movement, a Utah woman pleaded not guilty March 15 to charges that she murdered her unborn child by refusing a Caesarean section doctors say would have saved the baby’s life.

Prosecutors say the mother didn’t want the scars that accompany the surgery. Melissa Ann Rowland, 28, delivered twins Jan. 13. One of the babies, a boy, was stillborn. The other, a girl, survived and was quickly adopted.

But doctors say the stillborn baby boy shouldn’t have died. An autopsy found the child died two days before his delivery, and that he would have survived if Rowland had had a C-section when doctors urged her to.

According to court documents, Rowland went to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City in December concerned because she hadn’t felt her babies move. A nurse, Regina Davis, told police she advised Rowland to immediately go to one of two other hospitals in the area for help. Davis said Rowland told her she would rather let both babies die before going to either place.

Rowland showed up at LDS hospital again Jan. 2. A doctor examined her and determined through an ultrasound that the babies’ heart rates were slowing. He recommended an immediate C-section to save the babies’ lives. The doctor said Rowland refused his advice and left. A nurse told police Rowland said a Caesarean would “ruin her life” and she would rather “lose one of the babies than be cut like that,” according to The Associated Press.

The same day, Rowland allegedly saw a nurse at another hospital, saying she had left LDS Hospital because the doctor wanted to cut her “from breast to pubic bone.”

A week later, Rowland allegedly went to a third hospital to verify whether her babies were alive. A nurse there told police she could not detect a heartbeat from one twin and advised Rowland to remain in the hospital, but Rowland allegedly ignored the advice, AP reported.

A few days later, Rowland gave birth - one baby lived and one died, just as doctors predicted.

Prosecutors charged Rowland with one first-degree felony count of criminal homicide, saying she exhibited “depraved indifference to human life,” according to court documents.

“We are unable to find any reason other than the cosmetic motivations by the mother” for her decision, Kent Morgan, a spokesman for the district attorney, said in a statement.

The criminal charges against Rowland follow a January Utah Supreme Court ruling that unborn children at all stages of development are covered under the state’s criminal homicide statute. The law ironically exempts the death of an unborn child during an abortion.

— E.P. News