On Wednesday, IL Gov. JB Pritzker signed an abortion rights law which he proudly proclaimed to be the most progressive in the nation. He was very happy about it, too, while the women around him clapped like trained seals.

Pritzker called abortion a “fundamental right,” and said this at the signing:

“In a time when too many states across the nation are taking a step backward, Illinois is taking a giant step forward for women’s health. Today, we proudly proclaim that in this state, we trust women.”

Moreover, the new IL law uses these words:

“ . . . fertilized egg, embryo or fetus does not have independent rights.”

It was a happy day for JB, not so much for unborn babies in Illinois.

“When I became Governor, I promised that Illinois would become a national leader in protecting reproductive rights,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. “And with the signing of the Reproductive Health Act, I’m keeping that promise.” https://t.co/jqj0ELwojL

— HuffPost (@HuffPost) June 12, 2019

Two days after Pritzker signed the IL Reproductive Health Act into law, Baby Yovanny Ochoa-Lopez died in a Chicago hospital. How Baby Yovanny wound up in the hospital sounds like a gruesome tale from the “Murder Castle” at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Marlen Ochoa-Lopez, the baby’s mother, had gone to pick up some free baby clothes at a home in Chicago. She was nine-months pregnant with the little boy, and as a very young wife and mother, the offer sounded tempting.

Credit: congerdesign/pixabay/pixabay license. 

But while she was there, the mother-daughter team of Clarisa and Desiree Figueroa strangled Marlen with a cable and then cut the baby from her womb. Prosecutors say it took four to five minutes for Marlen to die.

However, the murder also deprived the baby boy of oxygen, which caused irreversible brain damage. He didn’t breathe, so the pair quickly took him to the hospital,

As for Marlen — she was found in a garbage can outside the Figueroa home. The coaxial cable was still around her neck.

And now little Yovanny Ochoa-Lopez has died.

So now the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office has a conundrum upon their hands: should they make additional charges against the Figueroa’s? And for what — his brain damage? his death?

Frank Avila, the attorney for Yovani Lopez, Marlen’s husband, wants those additional charges. But the State’s Attorney’s office released this statement:

“The State’s Attorney’s Office will make a determination on additional charges in this case after the medical examiner’s office and police department have completed their investigations.”

So if this had been, say, a day-old baby who had been suffocated, there would be no doubt that this would be a murder charge. But now the SA’s office needs to ponder what to do. Usually prosecutors upgrade charges when a victim has died from injuries in a crime.

But technically, was baby Yovanny even “born”? He never took a breath. When the Figueroa women cut him from his mother, he was still a “fetus.” And according to the new IL Reproductive Rights Law, he wouldn’t have “independent rights,” if his mother had aborted him.

Most people, if they have a heart, would read about little Yovanny’s death and find it to be a tragedy. They would also be shocked and outraged at his mother’s death. Yet how many of those same people feeling sorry for him applaud the new IL abortion law? Moreover, why should an unborn baby be more expendable in Illinois than little baby Yovanny was?

I’m no attorney, but it seems to me that the new IL abortion rights act raises a lot of questions about who determines which lives are worthwhile.

Featured image: witwiccan@pixabay/cropped/pixabay license.