Sat Mar 13,11:19 PM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!
SALT LAKE CITY - The woman charged with killing one of her twins by refusing a Caesarean section was convicted of child endangerment in Pittsburgh nearly four years ago, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The 2000 conviction of Melissa Rowland stemmed from a supermarket incident in which she punched her daughter several times in the face after the toddler picked up a candy bar and began eating it, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported. Witnesses said Rowland screamed, "You ate the candy bar and now I can't buy my cigarettes."
An Allegheny County, Pa., court sentenced Rowland to five years probation for simple assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child. Her daughter was turned over to a child-welfare agency.
Prosecutors in Salt Lake City charged Rowland Thursday with criminal homicide and child endangerment for refusing doctors' advice to get a C-section. Charging documents allege that Rowland was warned numerous times between Christmas and Jan. 9 that her twins would likely die if she did not get immediate medical treatment.
One of the twins, a boy, was stillborn Jan. 13. A girl survived and has since been adopted, but prosecutors say she tested positive for cocaine and alcohol.
Rowland, 28, of the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, has denied prosecutors' claims that she avoided the surgery because of fears of scarring.
A call after hours to Rowland's attorney, Michael Sikora, was not immediately returned. Sikora has said Rowland has a history of mental illness. Rowland said she attempted suicide twice and has spent time in a psychiatric hospital.
In a jailhouse interview with The Associated Press Friday, Rowland said her two children from her estranged husband have lived with his parents since 1997. She did not mention the prior conviction and said her children, ages 7 and 9, no longer live with her because she thought they were better off with their grandparents.
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Prosecutors in Salt Lake City charged Rowland Thursday with criminal homicide and child endangerment for refusing doctors' advice to get a C-section. Charging documents allege that Rowland was warned numerous times between Christmas and Jan. 9 that her twins would likely die if she did not get immediate medical treatment.
One of the twins, a boy, was stillborn Jan. 13. A girl survived
Just getting her fixed doesn't seem like enough solution for a bad problem.[:@][:@]
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I don't see why she's being charged for having a natural childbirth. Had a twin died in childbirth before the advent of modern surgery, were mothers charged with murder?
As so well can be seen just from this forum......(even though it is more than a little apparent to all but maybe someone in a comma).......that she has not been fit to be a parent, and in all likelihood, never will be! There are still people that believe she has a "right" to procreate!
All I can do is wish that someone like her is there for them someday, if and when they become invalid! It may be convoluted justice.....but it would come too late to make a difference in the way they believe, and more importantly, the way they vote. Which is what really influences policy!
I agree with you. Unfortunately as a society we have all but lost our sense of morality!
Dave
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ak , she has the ability to procreate , not the right. Even though she is an unfit mother , it is not my or your place to decide who or in this mothers case , what procreates. Shall we just start our own camp and castrate/hysterectomy every person who is an unfit parent ? and who would decide that ?
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Take the "Training Wheels" off your bow. Go traditional !
Why can't we just get people "fixed"?
