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Fetal homicide bill sparks abortion debate
AP Wire (direct feed) | January 18, 2005 | ANNE GEARAN

Posted on 01/18/2005 12:34:10 PM PST by NYer

HELENA (AP) _ A bill that would criminalize killing or injuring a fetus sparked a fierce debate over abortion at a legislative hearing Tuesday, despite assertions by its sponsor that it had nothing to do with terminating a pregnancy.

Rep. Penny Morgan, R-Billings, said her bill was meant to address violence against pregnant women and get justice for the unborn children harmed or killed in the process, such as in the Laci Peterson case in California. ``This is a bigger problem than people have ever realized,'' she told the House Judiciary Committee.

Opponents called her House Bill 231 a thinly veiled attempt at criminalizing abortion and argued for less complicated options, such as penalty enhancements for crimes against pregnant women, to address the issue. ``This bill could subject undue criminal investigations against family members because of still births or low birth weights,'' said Donci Bartash with Planned Parenthood of Montana.

The measure would create felony crimes such as homicide and aggravated assault against an unborn child, and calls for penalties of as little as six months in jail to 100 years in prison. Abortions, medical care and ``acts of any woman with respect to her unborn child'' would be exempt under the bill. A similar measure failed to make it out of committee in 2003. In 2001, the House passed a nearly identical bill, which eventually was killed in the Senate.

The House Judiciary Committee took no immediate action on the measure Tuesday. Morgan said her bill mirrors legislation passed in California following the murder of Peterson and her unborn son on Christmas Eve in 2002. Her husband, Scott Peterson, was convicted in November of killing them both and jurors recommended he be put to death. Morgan said similar crimes happen nearly every day nationwide, but that most go unnoticed because many states don't specifically track the murders or assaults of pregnant women. Her bill, she said, would recognize those crimes by making sure perpetrators are punished twice for killing or injuring two people _ the pregnant woman and her unborn child. ``This really is a pro-choice issue,'' said Harris Himes, pastor and president of the Montana Family Coalition. ``These women wanted to have their babies. They chose to have them ... but someone else decided otherwise.''

Jessica Rhoades, executive director of NARAL Pro-choice Montana Foundation, accused the bill's sponsor and supporters of trying to undermine abortion rights by defining a fetus as a person with the intent to afford it legal rights. Rep. Michael Lange, R-Billings, who helped draft the bill, said the language was taken from existing statute.

The American Civil Liberties Union and state attorney general's office also voiced concerns over what they characterized as vague language and the possibility for constitutional violations. Lange later agreed to work with them on possible amendments or clarifications to the bill.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Michigan
KEYWORDS: abortion; abortionismean; adoption; chooselife; fetalhomicide; fetus; homicide; life; murder; prolife; sanctity; sanctityoflife

1 posted on 01/18/2005 12:34:14 PM PST by NYer
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To: cpforlife.org; Mr. Silverback; Coleus

PIng!


2 posted on 01/18/2005 12:35:02 PM PST by NYer ("In good times we enjoy faith, in bad times we exercise faith." ... Mother Angelica)
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To: NYer
Opponents called her House Bill 231 a thinly veiled attempt at criminalizing abortion

That's because the separation between abortion and murder is a thin veil.

3 posted on 01/18/2005 12:38:22 PM PST by My2Cents
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To: My2Cents
Opponents called her House Bill 231 a thinly veiled attempt at criminalizing the murder of the most innocent by ripping them apart for blood money.

This is what is really being happening and the fear that it will disrupt the money for murder bloody crowd.

4 posted on 01/18/2005 12:51:07 PM PST by chiefqc
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To: My2Cents
Opponents called her House Bill 231 a thinly veiled attempt at criminalizing the murder of the most innocent by ripping them apart for blood money.

This is what is really being happening and the fear that it will disrupt the money for murder bloody crowd.

5 posted on 01/18/2005 12:51:18 PM PST by chiefqc
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To: NYer

Hopefully this will spark a lawsuit that will focus on the rights of the unborn baby.


6 posted on 01/18/2005 1:09:40 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (God is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: My2Cents

That's because abortion is murder.


7 posted on 01/18/2005 1:25:19 PM PST by shubi (Peace through superior firepower.)
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To: NYer
With all the "crackpot" conspiracy theories and alternative histories and stories of ancient space aliens posing as "gods" and lizards from the fourth dimension, it is a wonder that so few people ever consider that the massacre of innocent unborn children might be a sort of sacrifice to some evil spirits or demons or lizards from the fourth dimension.

Lots of folks make movies and write books about powerful leaders who are secretly Satanists sacrificing children, born and unborn, and committing all manner of crimes. Hardly anyone ever suggests that Satanists might have some involvement in large-scale abortion, or that perhaps some of the aborted children end up being used by Satanists.

I know this must sound outlandish, and I am not suggesting that any of this is happening. Rather I am merely noting that in a world full of people who are ready to believe that George W. Bush, the English Royal family, the CIA, Mossad and the Rothschilds are part of some vast, nefarious war-mongering conspiracy, it is hard to find conspiracy theories about abortion. Yes, killing for the sake of selfishness and "convenience" is bad enough in itself, but conspiracy theorists are always ready to take other evil events and weave them together into an unbroken fabric of coordinated evil.

8 posted on 01/18/2005 1:32:38 PM PST by Montfort
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To: NYer

"by defining a fetus as a person"

The babies are persons. That is a simple fact.

Abortion-lovers need to get out of the dark ages.


9 posted on 01/18/2005 1:56:05 PM PST by unlearner
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To: unlearner

This will give Montana a first taste of the sour medicine it will get again and again because it let the rats take over. Maybe this will be the start of a GOP come back.


10 posted on 01/18/2005 2:15:55 PM PST by jmaroneps37 ( Frist/ Blackwell in 2008 for a landslide: you saw it here first.)
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To: 2nd amendment mama; A2J; Agitate; Alouette; Annie03; aposiopetic; attagirl; axel f; Balto_Boy; ...

ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

11 posted on 01/18/2005 3:41:12 PM PST by Mr. Silverback (Women need abortion like a fish needs a bicycle.)
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To: unlearner

Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and all the others who profit from the slaughter of babies have a strong vested interest in ensuring the truth remains hidden to the "great unwashed".


12 posted on 01/18/2005 8:32:50 PM PST by Aussie Dasher (Stop Hillary - PEGGY NOONAN '08)
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