ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (LifeSiteNews) – Legislation proposed in the Maryland Senate would allow babies to be left to die for as long as the first 28 days after birth, according to analysis from a pro-life attorney.
Senate Bill 669 is also
known as the Pregnant Person’s Freedom Act of 2022, but the problems go beyond
the use of “person” in place of accurate references to women having babies.
Senator William Smith, a Democrat, sponsored the legislation, which will have a
hearing on March 15.
“[T]he bill also
proposes a revision of the fetal murder/manslaughter statute that would serve
to handcuff the investigation of infant deaths unrelated to abortion,” American
Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) attorney Olivia Summers wrote in her
analysis.
This is because the
legislation prohibits investigations and criminal prosecutions for women and
medical professionals for a “failure to act” in relation to a “perinatal
death.”
“In other words, a baby
born alive and well could be abandoned and left to starve or freeze to death,”
Summers wrote, “and nothing could be done to punish those who participated in
that cruel death.”
She said that the
language used is unclear, so the law could be interpreted to “prevent
investigations into the death of infants at least seven days AFTER their birth,
and may extend to infants as old as four weeks!”
The Maryland Code does
not define “perinatal,” Summers said. A 2020 law does define “perinatal care”
as the “provision of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and
neonatal periods.”
A definition on
MedicineNet, a website owned by WebMD, defines it as “the 20th to 28th week of
gestation” to “1 to 4 weeks after birth.”
Summers, with the ACLJ,
noted in her analysis that the state already has a safe haven law that allows
parents to leave a newborn baby with a responsible adult without fear of
prosecution.
“Under the Safe Haven
law, a distressed parent who is unable or unwilling to care for their infant
can safely give up custody of their baby, no questions asked,” the Maryland
Department of Human Services explains. “Newborns can be left at hospitals or
law enforcement stations.”
“There is absolutely no
reason for Maryland Senate Bill 669’s attempt to prevent someone who lets their
baby die from being investigated,” Summers said. ”This bill just further
exposes the complete lack of regard abortion advocates have for innocent human
life.”
“If they truly want to
protect life and women, then legislators could simply extend the length of the
safe harbor provision already in place,” she said.
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