The New Hampshire House on Wednesday voted 219-122 to reject a bill (HB 1644) that would have allowed prosecutors to file murder, manslaughter or negligent homicide charges for intentionally or unintentionally ending the life of a fetus, the AP/Boston Herald reports. According to the AP/Herald, opponents of the bill described it as an attempt to define the term "unborn child" in statute with the goal of restricting abortion rights.
State Rep. Beth Rodd (D) said the bill would establish conception as the legal definition of the beginning of life. She called the bill "a wolf in sheep's clothing and an assault on reproductive freedom." Rodd also noted that a state law already exists that permits prosecution for intentionally harming a pregnant woman and causing a miscarriage or stillbirth. State Rep. Gary Richardson (D) said that under the bill, a woman could be charged with homicide even if she did not know she was pregnant and the pregnancy ended unintentionally.
Proponents of the bill said it excluded abortion and was needed to address a problem with the state's use of a 14th century common law doctrine that defines when a person is considered legally alive.
Bill Stems From Court Case
The bill was prompted by a case in which a cab driver, who was seven months pregnant, was injured when her car was struck by a drunk driver. After being delivered via caesarean section, the infant was not breathing and had no detectable heartbeat. The infant was revived and placed on life support but died two weeks later. A passenger in the cab also was killed. The drunk driver was convicted in the death of the passenger, but the state Supreme Court overturned a conviction in the infant's death. According to the AP/Herald, New Hampshire law "does not consider a fetus a person unless the baby shows evidence of life at birth, such as breathing or moving, spontaneously."
In its ruling, the court said, "Should the Legislature find the result in this case as unfortunate as we do, it should follow the lead of many other states and revisit the homicide statutes as they pertain to a fetus," the court said. The court added that 30 states have abandoned the legal definition of "alive" that is used in New Hampshire and 17 other states (Love, AP/Boston Herald, 2/17).
