4 States Consider Bills To Treat Women Who Get Abortions as Murderers
Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, bills aiming to criminalize abortion providers have proliferated. But it’s relatively rare to see lawmakers propose criminalizing women who obtain abortions—well, it was rare, at least. In January, lawmakers in at least four states introduced proposals to make intentionally harming a fertilized egg or fetus punishable under homicide statutes, with no exceptions for women who get abortions unless they were forced or coerced into ending their pregnancies.
These measures would leave pregnant women who seek abortions subject to criminal charges such as murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, and attempted manslaughter and open to wrongful death lawsuits brought by partners or family members.
They could also seriously imperil care for women experiencing pregnancy complications and have major implications for in vitro fertilization practices.
Indiana: House Bill 1334 was introduced by state Rep. Lorissa Sweet (R–Indianapolis) on January 13. It has attracted two co-sponsors so far and has been referred to the Committee on Courts and Criminal Code.
Sweet’s bill would modify Indiana’s criminal code so that the phrase “human being” includes beings in utero and fertilized eggs. Human being “includes an unborn child at any stage of development from fertilization at the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum,” H.B. 1334 states.
The measure would repeal the crime of feticide—the killing of a fetus—since the killing of a fetus by any means, including abortion, would count as murder or manslaughter. It would also make injuring an embryo or fetus actionable under wrongful death lawsuits, as well.
Sweet’s bill would further repeal a section of the Indiana criminal code saying “it is a defense to any crime involving the death of or injury to a fetus that the defendant was a pregnant woman who committed the unlawful act with the intent to terminate her pregnancy.” Thus, a pregnant woman who tried to terminate her pregnancy could be criminally punished.
North Dakota: A dozen lawmakers have signed on to House Bill 1373, which was also introduced on January 13. Its lead author is state Rep. Lori VanWinkle, (R–Minot).
H.B. 1373 would amend certain sections of North Dakota code to say that the terms human being and person include an “unborn child” from “the moment of fertilization.” These changes would apply “as the terms relate to the offenses of murder and assault, and civil actions for death caused by wrongful acts.”
Oklahoma: We’ve got Senate Bill 456, introduced on January 8 by state Sen. Dusty Deevers (R–Elgin) and co-authored in the Oklahoma House by Rep. Gabe Woolley (R–Broken Arrow). The bill, called the “Abolition of Abortion Act,” amends the state’s homicide statute.
Oklahoma’s homicide statute already says that “”human being’ includes an unborn child” from the moment of conception, but it excludes from the definition of homicide acts “committed during a legal abortion to which the pregnant woman consented” and stipulates that “under no circumstances shall the mother of the unborn child be prosecuted for causing the death of the unborn child unless the mother has committed a crime that caused the death.”
S.B. 456 would repeal the abortion exclusion and the bit excluding pregnant women.
Elsewhere, Deevers’ bill would add language specifying that “even where the charge is murder, the provisions of this section shall apply if the victim is an unborn child and the defendant is the child’s mother.”
South Carolina: House Bill 3537—dubbed the “Prenatal Equal Protection Act”—was introduced on January 14 and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. It was introduced by state Rep. Rob Harris (R–Spartanburg), and the bill currently has
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