{"id":294786,"date":"2023-07-22T09:40:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-22T14:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=294786"},"modified":"2023-07-20T13:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T18:50:37","slug":"pregnancy-outcome-laws-protect-women-babies-trash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pregnancy-outcome-laws-protect-women-babies-trash\/","title":{"rendered":"Would ‘pregnancy outcome’ laws protect women who throw their babies in the trash?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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News broke last week that 19-year-old Alexee Trevizo had attended<\/a> prom just weeks after giving birth to a baby boy and hiding him in the hospital garbage, leaving him to suffocate. Under new laws in certain states, many experts have stated that such an act could be considered a “pregnancy outcome” \u2014 and therefore, would be legal.<\/p>\n

Trevizo lives in New Mexico and is currently facing the charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of her son. An autopsy revealed he had suffocated. But if she convinces a jury she didn’t know she was pregnant, will she be acquitted of killing him?<\/p>\n

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Colorado Governor Jared Polis have both signed into effect laws that would prohibit prosecution due to pregnancy loss. And in Michigan, Prop 3<\/a> would do the same. The language of the legislation could allow for abortion survivors<\/a> and babies born<\/a> with disabilities<\/a> to be left to die<\/a> and prevent the prosecution of infanticide. It could also allow for mothers who discard their newborns like garbage to avoid prosecution.<\/p>\n

California’s law<\/a>, Assembly Bill 2223, states:<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding any other law, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights under this article, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome<\/strong>, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death<\/strong> due to a pregnancy-related cause. (emphasis added)<\/em><\/p>\n

Because the bill failed to define what is meant by “perinatal death,” there is concern that there would be no investigations into any<\/em> newborn’s death.<\/p>\n

Originally, the bill’s language had said, \u201ca person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.” The addition of the phrase “to a pregnancy-related cause” was meant to alleviate those concerns.<\/p>\n

It didn’t.<\/p>\n

Could broad loopholes and vague language legally allow infanticide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThese amendments added \u2018perinatal death due to pregnancy related cause,’\u201d explained Theresa Brennan, Esq., president of Right to Life League. \u201cThe amendments do not address the fact that the bill would continue to chill reporting and investigations of ANY perinatal death because, whether that death was \u2018pregnancy related\u2019 or not could only be determined after investigation. If it turned out the infant\u2019s death was \u2018pregnancy related,\u2019 a term which is undefined, overbroad, and meaningless since even birth is pregnancy related, an immediate private cause of action (with damages starting at $25,000 and attorney\u2019s fees) could be taken against the person who did the investigation. The real aim of this bill is to cover up and block any investigation into late term chemical abortions which studies have proven will result in live births.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado’s law, HB-1279, states that it would prohibit anyone from:<\/p>\n

Depriving, through prosecution, punishment, or other means, an individual of the\u00a0individual\u2019s right to act or refrain from acting<\/strong>\u00a0during the individual\u2019s own pregnancy based on the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy, the\u00a0pregnancy\u2019s outcomes<\/strong>, or on the pregnant individual\u2019s health. (emphasis added)<\/em><\/p>\n

Like California’s new law, Colorado’s law could allow abortion survivors to be left to die and could also affect babies born with a disability or genetic condition that was not discovered until late in pregnancy or was not discovered during pregnancy at all.<\/p>\n

Wrongful birth lawsuits have already been filed against doctors who did not accurately diagnose a child while she was still in womb. The bill could allow these parents to abort their child after birth<\/em> (infanticide). And a teen girl who claims she didn’t know she was pregnant, as Trevizo has, might get away with killing her newborn \u2014\u00a0especially in a state that would have allowed her to have an abortion right up until birth.<\/p>\n

Live Action\u2019s Director of Government Affairs, Noah Brandt, explained, \u201cThe intended outcome for every abortion is a dead human child, but abortionists are not always successful in their efforts. On occasion, especially during attempted abortions of preborn children in the third trimester of pregnancy, a child can be delivered and born alive during the attempted abortion. Under the rules proposed by this bill, if a child is delivered alive during an abortion the doctors are under no legal compulsion to provide standard medical care as they would in any other circumstance and attempt to preserve the child\u2019s life. Medical providers would listen to the mother\u2019s instructions. which could include not providing life-sustaining medical care to the child, which would lead to the child\u2019s death, which most reasonable people would consider infanticide. State legislatures must focus on supporting families, not destroying their youngest members.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan’s Prop 3 prohibits the state from \u201cpenaliz[ing], prosecut[ing], or otherwise tak[ing] adverse action against an individual based on their actual, potential, perceived, or alleged pregnancy outcomes.\u201d Again, the state is prevented from filing charges against someone because of her “pregnancy outcome.”<\/p>\n