Posted: 9/30/2005 8:13:52 AM EDT
Stuff like this really pisses me off. Boyfriend beats pregnant girlfriend with miniature baseball bat to end her pregnancy (read "kill the baby inside her") and the asshat is only sentenced to 200 hours of community service. The only outrage the reporter apparently feels is outrage that the kid (read "murderer") is sentenced to work at a "pro-life" crisis center. LINK Teen must serve pro-life center Judge's order for boy convicted of hitting girlfriend with a bat to end pregnancy prompts objections. By Edward L. Cardenas / The Detroit News MOUNT CLEMENS -- A teenage boy convicted of striking his girlfriend with a baseball bat to end her pregnancy has been sentenced to 200 hours of community service at a pro-life pregnancy center, drawing objections from his lawyer and his family. Macomb Circuit Judge Matthew Switalski on Thursday sentenced the 17-year-old Richmond teen to two years probation and community service at Compassion Pregnancy Centers, which has two locations in Macomb County. The youth -- who pleaded no contest in August to hitting his 16-year-old girlfriend in the stomach with her consent to cause a miscarriage -- hugged the girl in the hallway outside the courtroom after the sentencing. The teens' names are being withheld because they are juveniles. According to Compassion Pregnancy Centers' Web site, the center is "directed by the Holy Spirit, will encourage and comfort women and their families who face a crisis pregnancy by: extending Christ-like compassion and the soul-saving good news of salvation; giving spiritual, emotional and physical support and educating about life issues." Lawyer Miranda Massie said it was the teens' call to a similar pregnancy center that led to their decision to terminate their pregnancy in the first place. "There are plenty of places he could do (for community service) that provide an unbiased, non-religious, non-sectarian view of women's options," Massie said. "These kids called a place like this and got factually inaccurate information about what their options were. It's part of what led them into taking the actions they took into feeling they had no other option but to attempt a back-alley abortion." The teen's father also criticized the decision. "I think it was a bad call on the judge's part," said the father, whose last name is being withheld to protect his son's identity. "This is an in-your-face (move) by the judge. Why not send him to Planned Parenthood, where he could see all sides of being a parent?" Switalski did not specify at which Compassion Pregnancy Centers location the teen would perform the community service. He said the teen could do odd jobs. "He is not going there to be an advocate," Switalski said. "He is there to help out with any work that is needed. There needs to be some reckoning for what he did." "We are a crisis center," said Barb Seifferlein, who works in client service at the center's Clinton Township location. "(Those providing community service) wouldn't have anything to do with the people who come in." The teen was charged in January with assaulting a pregnant individual, causing a miscarriage. Prosecutors allege he struck his girlfriend in the stomach with a 22-inch miniature baseball bat over three weeks in early fall 2004. The 6-month-old fetus died of premature birth associated with trauma to the mother, according to an autopsy by the Macomb County medical examiner. Police learned about the incident in mid-November after the girl spoke about it while at a high school leadership conference. The adult facilitator contacted the Michigan State Police.
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