‘Oh, the humanity.’

To the outcry of at least one Hawaii resident, and perhaps more, the State House of Representatives recently killed a bill designed to protect pregnant women from attacks and assaults. The bill stemmed from a Big Island murder where an estranged husband attacked his wife and killed her unborn baby. The baby was not his.

The reasons given for killing the bill… somehow that just doesn’t sound acceptable, given the subject matter. The reasons given for terminating the bill… no, that won’t work, either. The reasons given for the bill’s demise… I’m not making progress, am I?

The reasons given seemed a bit looney considering the obvious. It’s already illegal to assault with intent to harm. Whether the intended victim is a mother, a father, or merely an offspring, or offspring from a notoriously stubborn beast of burden, or carrying a child, doesn’t make the assault any more illegal.

If life in jail for attempted murder isn’t sufficient deterrent for attacking a woman with an unborn child, what is? More punishment? Such crimes are usually crimes of passion for which typical deterrent laws don’t provide much, uh, well, deterrent.