In tragic news from the United Kingdom, a preborn baby boy was stillborn after his father kicked his mother in the stomach. The boy’s mother had named him Joel.
Joel’s mother, Malorie Bantala, says she is not “the real victim,” insisting that her son is the one who suffered most.
Sky News reported that the father, Kevin Wilson, 22, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of Joel’s death. The news agency acknowledges Joel’s humanity with the headline: “Man Guilty of Killing Unborn Baby in Attack.”
As Sky News explains, Wilson “has been found guilty of killing his unborn baby during a savage attack on his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend.” Bantala was 8 months pregnant and had refused an abortion.
Wilson and a 17-year old accomplice attacked Bantala outside her home after she had just returned from a shopping trip for her baby shower. They kicked her in the stomach as she lay curled up on the ground, protecting her son. In addition to the loss of her baby and other physical injuries, Bantala suffered two broken fingers and “nearly lost her womb.”
The two attackers have been found guilty “of child destruction and causing grievous bodily harm to Ms. Bantala.”
In a statement, Bantala mourned that “Joel never got to meet me properly, never know how much I love him…The moment Joel was taken from me I lost everything.”
Too often, preborn children throughout the United States are not granted the legal justice Joel was given. Horrifying news came out of Colorado in March, when a woman’s baby was cut out of her and subsequently died. District Attorney Stan Garnett – who is personally affiliated with Planned Parenthood – declined to bring murder charges.
Colorado is also one of a handful of states that continues to reject any legal protections for preborn children who are killed by criminal acts . The Brady Amendment – named in honor of a preborn boy who was killed after his mother was hit by a drunk driver – failed in the 2014 election.
Joel’s death is no less tragic with his killer now in prison, but the UK court should be commended for serving justice. This preborn baby’s life was treated just like any other person’s life, as Wilson’s sentence acknowledges. While abortion is still legal in the United Kingdom, cases like Joel’s may serve as the groundwork to one day recognize all preborn children as the persons they are.
