Executing Women: What Message Does This Send Out to Society?

The United States as well as other countries executes female inmates. Over forty women have been executed in the US since 1976. High profile cases of women executed include Karla Faye Tucker, executed by the state of Texas by lethal injection on February 3, 1998, Aileen Wouorness, executed by lethal injection by the state of Florida on October 9, 1992, and recently Frances Newton, executed by the State of Texas, by lethal injection on September 15, 2005.

The newest female to be given an execution date is Cathy Henderson, Texas. According to the Save Cathy Henderson website, and to Sister Helen Prejean, " Cathy was condemned to death for murdering a baby. That's what the Texas prosecutor claimed. But I believe Cathy's version of what happened. Cathy was baby-sitting with little Brandon and, to stop him from crying, was swinging him around when, barefooted, she stepped on a sharp toy, lost her balance, and the baby flew out of her arms, hit the wall, and died. It was an accident, but at trial there was miserable defense for Cathy to tell her story and examine forensic evidence to show that the baby could have died as a result of such an accident. The plight of the poor: no defense for Cathy, who sits on death row, and a venal prosecutor, who presented her as a monster and now sits in the legislature." http://www.cathyhenderson.org/ Cathy is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on April 18, 2007, unless a stay of execution is issued by Rick Perry, the Governor of Texas.

In a society as ours that shuns violence against women by men, this is the ultimate abuse toward a women, lethal injection. The female's body is strapped to the gurney, injected with the deadly drug combination, and the females body is handled afterward by men. This is not only cruel and inhumane, but degrading to the women as well.