Legal Abortions Caused Pregnant Woman's Murder, Says Group

(CNSNews.com) - A Philadelphia, Pa., man who claims he killed his pregnant girlfriend in July 2005 because she refused to have an abortion is now on trial for the murders of the woman and her unborn child, but a pro-life group says the crime would never have happened if abortion was not an option in the United States.

"It's a very sad story," Day Gardener, president of the National Black Pro-Life Union told Cybercast News Service. "It's a woman who was basically killed for saying she wants to keep her baby."

Stephen Poaches allegedly killed his girlfriend, LaToyia Figueroa last year. Figueroa was five months pregnant at the time. Last week Poaches waived his right to a jury trial, so his case is being heard by a judge. The trial started on Friday.

"To think that LaToyia Figueroa and her baby were killed because she refused to kill her own child is nauseating," said Gardener.

"Human life is taken so lightly now. The fact that we are killing babies is unthinkable," she added.

Gardener called abortion a "vicious attack on unborn children and an attack on women. It hurts people and kills children.

"We are seeing more and more horror stories like this where there is total disregard for human life - which is why it is imperative that we get abortion off the table. The killing of a child should never be thought of as an option," said Gardener.

According to ABC News, "A study published in the March 2005 edition of the American Journal of Public Health found that homicide was a leading cause of death among pregnant women in the United States between 1991 and 1999." The women were most often killed by a husband or boyfriend.

NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Abortion Federation, and the Guttmacher Institute did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment for this article.

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