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PEOPLE v. WOODS
204 Mich. App. 472 (1994)
Michigan Court of Appeals.
Submitted March 8, 1994, at Grand Rapids.
A pregnancy resulting from a rape (and, in this case, a resulting abortion) are not injuries necessarily incidental to an act of rape. The bodily injury involved in a pregnancy (and, in this case, a resulting abortion) are significant and substantial. Pregnancy cannot be termed a trivial, insignificant matter. It amounts to significant and substantial bodily injury or damage. It involves more than the psychological and emotional distress necessarily
incident to a rape which psychological or emotional distress the authors of [People v] Caudillo [21 Cal.3d 562; 146 Cal.Rptr. 859; 580 P.2d 274 (1978)] deemed not to constitute significant or substantial physical injury. Major physical changes begin to take place at the time of pregnancy. It involves a significant bodily impairment primarily affecting a woman's health and well being. It is all the more devastating when imposed on a woman by forcible rape. Pregnancy can have one of three results — childbirth, abortion or miscarriage. Childbirth is an agonizing experience. An abortion by whatever method used constitutes a severe intrusion into a woman's body. A miscarriage speaks for itself. Just what the dimensions of a "normal" rape might be, we leave to the authors of Caudillo. We merely find that the facts in this case, i.e., a pregnancy followed by an abortion, clearly support a finding of great bodily injury. In this case, the trial court's decision to score the pregnancy and abortion as bodily injury nearly mirrored that of the court in Sargent. Under these circumstances, we conclude that the trial court properly scored twenty-five points under ov 2 for the pregnancy and abortion suffered by the victim as a result of defendant's sexual assault. Lastly, defendant's sentence, which is within the minimum recommended guidelines' range, is proportionate to the seriousness of the circumstances surrounding the offense and the offender. People v Milbourn,435 Mich. 630; 461 N.W.2d 1 (1990). Affirmed.
* Recorder's Court judge, sitting on the Court of Appeals by assignment.
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