Indiana Lawmakers May Alter State's Fetal Homicide Law

Main Category: Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 02 Jul 2008 - 9:00 PST

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The AP/WSBT-TV examined the debate over proposals in Indiana that would allow prosecutors to expand the circumstances under which separate murder charges can be filed for harming a fetus during crimes against pregnant women. Currently, prosecutors in Indiana can file murder charges in cases in which a fetus dies only if the mother is at least seven months pregnant. Some lawmakers are looking to increase the penalties, which could make Indiana the "newest battleground" in a debate that has occurred in other states, the AP/WSBT-TV reports.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, more than 35 states have fetal homicide laws, including 23 that define fetal "personhood" as starting at conception or fertilization. Some conservative groups said that legislation is needed to protect fetuses and to recognize that a crime against a pregnant woman has more than one victim. Some abortion-rights supporters point out that fetal homicide laws can be a "backdoor" way to establish under the law that life begins at conception, an approach that can pit a woman's rights against those of her fetus, according to the AP/WSBT-TV.

Lynn Paltrow, executive director of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, said that laws that are meant to protect a fetus can be used to prosecute pregnant women. "What happens in legislation like this is that the pregnant woman is treated as collateral damage," Paltrow said, adding, "They create precedent through these laws that has all over the country been used not to protect pregnant women but to justify the arrest of pregnant women themselves."

Indiana state Sen. Jim Merritt (R) said that he plans to introduce a bill that would amend the murder statute to include a fetus at any state of development. "The expectation of a child is a remarkable feeling -- to have that stolen from you is just tragic," Merritt said. According to the AP/WSBT-TV, Marion County, Ind., prosecutor Carl Brizzi has been calling for longer prison sentences for people convicted of harming a fetus during crimes against pregnant women since the arrest of a man who allegedly robbed a bank in Indianapolis and shot a bank teller. The man, Brian Kendrick, allegedly shot bank teller Katherin Shuffield, who was five months pregnant. According to the AP/WSBT-TV, Shuffield survived the shooting, but her two fetuses did not. Kendrick has been charged with the shooting and faces four to 16 years if he is convicted (Martin, AP/WSBT-TV, 6/29).

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