Hampden (Maine) legislator’s bill seeks legal standing for ‘unborn child’

Source: BDN

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine would join dozens of other states that assign a degree of legal standing to human fetuses under the provisions of a bill now making its way through the Legislature.

Speaking at a public hearing before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Friday, proponents — including groups that oppose abortion — said the law is needed to bring justice to families that lose “unborn children” to acts of violence against women who are pregnant.

But opponents said existing state law already acknowledges the unique nature of such a loss and that the bill is really one of several attempts in the Republican-led Legislature to erode constitutionally protected abortion rights.

The bill, LD 1463, creates new, prosecutable crimes in Maine law, including murder, felony murder, manslaughter, assault, aggravated assault and elevated aggravated assault against an unborn child. Punishment would be consistent with existing penalties for the same crimes committed against an adult.

Read more: http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/05/13/health/bill-seeks-legal-standing-for-%E2%80%9Cunborn-child%E2%80%9D/

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FFS, I want my Maine back.

Goddamn it. And them.

Recommended.

for accidentally inducing the death of a fetus (ie, car accident, violent assault, etc). It would be nice if someone settled the law, either a fetus can be considered an entity or not.

I really have no preference either way.

here in California as an initiative. They had to go away because they could not get enough signatures for it to qualify. It would have been the fourth time the rapid religious right tried an initiative to gut women's health protections here.

the one in three estimated fetuses that are spontaneously lost via miscarriage. So, make that closer to $700 billion a year in federal tax money to women who have had a miscarriage or been pregnant. Because a child's a child, right? Based on $1000/child tax credit and 500,000,000 US births a year.

Hell, why don't they just annex them and then put all of the right wing nazis on a barge out in the Atlantic?

have more rights than even they could have possibly asked for