Colorado's controversial fetal homicide bill fails in Senate


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DENVER — In response to a gruesome attack on a pregnant Colorado woman in March, where the woman’s baby was cut out from the abdomen and left for dead, a Colorado lawmaker attempted to pass legislation to make the offense a crime under state law — an offense currently not codified for unborn children.

Following the grisly attack, District Attorney Stan Garnett said his office couldn’t file homicide charges because Colorado law prevented it, saying it was not possible “without proof of a live birth.”

As a result, Colorado State Senate President Bill Cadman introduced the bill “Offense Against Unborn Children Act,” which would have defined “person” to include an unborn child for the sake of charges relating to homicide and murder, but would not include acts committed by the mother of an unborn child, a medical procedure — abortion — performed by a physician, or for a death relating to “lawfully prescribed medication.”

The law was introduced and cleared through the Senate Committee on Judiciary in April. But Senate Democrats voted unanimously to postpone the bill indefinitely Monday, saying its “language could be broadly interpreted to infringe on reproductive rights because legal protections would be extended to unborn children,” according to the Associated Press.


It is a travesty that not a single Democrat voted in favor of this legislation, which would bring justice for babies like Aurora who die in violent homicides. At the very least, Colorado Citizens for Life would hope that lawmakers could put aside their partisan difference to pass this common-sense piece of legislation.

–Sarah Zagorski


Advocates of the bill, including Sarah Zagorski, executive director of Colorado Citizens for Life, were “disappointed” by the vote.

“It is a travesty that not a single Democrat voted in favor of this legislation, which would bring justice for babies like Aurora who die in violent homicides,” Zagorski posted to Facebook. “At the very least, Colorado Citizens for Life would hope that lawmakers could put aside their partisan difference to pass this common-sense piece of legislation.”

This is not the first time Colorado has attempted to pass a bill relating to penalties for harming unborn children. In 2012, the Colorado House introduced House Bill 1130.

The bill was crafted after Dynel Lane, who lured pregnant Michelle Wilkins to her home through a Craigslist posting for baby clothes, attacked Wilkins. Lane left the baby in a bathroom tub and allegedly told her husband later that she had miscarried. Lane was charged with eight felony counts, including first-degree unlawful termination of pregnancy.

Only 12 states do not have fetal homicide laws. Colorado has laws protecting the pregnant woman, but not the unborn child specifically. Utah, though, does protect an unborn child, saying “a person commits criminal homicide if the person intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, with criminal negligence, or acting with a mental state otherwise specified in the statute defining the offense, causes the death of another human being, including an unborn child at any stage of its development.”

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