A 16-year-old Macomb County, Mich., boy has been charged with a felony under the state's Prenatal Protection Act for helping end his girlfriend's pregnancy by hitting her in the abdomen with a baseball bat, the Detroit News reports. The girl -- who was six months pregnant at the time and subsequently gave birth to a stillborn infant, which was found buried in the yard of the boy's family's home -- had her boyfriend hit her repeatedly with a 22-inch souvenir bat over a two-week period in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy. However, under the Michigan law, while a person who intentionally harms a pregnant woman is criminally liable, "an act committed by the pregnant individual" cannot be prosecuted, according to the News. Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith said the case is "shocking and reprehensible" but added that he is "bound by the law" and cannot charge the girl with a crime. Pam Sherstad, spokesperson for Right to Life of Michigan, said that the 1999 state law's provision exempting pregnant women from prosecution was added so that the law does not conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that struck down state bans on abortion, according to the News. Sherstad added, "Abortion is obviously legal in the United States, and you can't have a state law that interferes with federal law. The Prenatal Protection Act was designed to protect pregnant women who are assaulted by someone resulting in the death of their unborn child. This is obviously a unique case." The girl's fetus could have been legally aborted, but she would have had to gain parental consent or the consent of a judge to undergo the procedure because she is a minor. If the fetus had been deemed "viable" -- defined as able to survive on its own outside the womb at the time of the stillbirth -- the boy could have been charged with manslaughter and the girl could have been charged with aiding and abetting manslaughter, according to the News.

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Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, said that the girl should be charged with "planning, plotting or conspiring to murder," but he added that "it's tough to do because the law takes a different view of developing potential life than it does of actual life. If the boy was charged with murder, she probably would be facing charges, too." Miranda Massie, a Detroit civil rights attorney, said that neither of the teens should be charged, adding, "My heart went out to these poor kids," adding, "I believe it is a terrible mistake to be charged at all. This is a tremendous waste of public resources." Lori Lamerand, vice president of Planned Parenthood Mid-Michigan Alliance, said, "It's always tragic when people resort to such drastic measures, when there are appropriate, safe medical measures available" (Cardenas/Hunter, Detroit News, 1/5).