Fetal Homicide Bill Dies in Committee of Conference - Granite Grok

Fetal Homicide Bill Dies in Committee of Conference

Most States have Fetal Homicide laws
Most States have Fetal Homicide laws

On, Thursday June 18, SB 40 died a natural death in the Sen. Carson-led Committee of Conference. Rather than to seriously entertain amendments brought to the table by Rep. Rideout which would mitigate the HORRIBLE language in SB 40 of “extrauterine survival”, the REPUBLICAN committee dashed the bill.

Rep. Leon Rideout and Rep. John Burt put up the good fight and stood firm against SB 40’s victimizing language. They reiterated that no family should be thrown into the battle of trying to prove “extrauterine survival” in a court of law. They rightly contended that families already dealing with inexplicable loss would then be further victimized by the necessary autopsy, following court battle and inevitable defeat in the courtroom.

The truly terrible thing is the Senate sponsors of this bill, Birdsell, Carson, and Bradley, KNEW all of this but actively pushed for its passage anyway. It did not matter in the least that SB 40 was a bad bill. It was “their” bill – so it could not be amended. (Kudos to the NH House which tried to pass a fetal homicide bill TWICE with 8 weeks language in this session.)

So, NH will NOT join the 38 other states who have a fetal homicide law on the books, but we will continue to fight. And we will not accept the crumbs offered by the corrupted politics of viability. Shame on the REPUBLICAN senators who supported and fought to pass this atrocious bill. We will try again – and hopefully try again with principles, rather than politics.

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