(Host) A car accident in Bennington earlier this month resulted in the death of unborn twins, and serious injuries to the mother.
Now a group that wants to toughen legal protections for the unborn, is pushing for a state law criminalizing ‘fetal homicide.’
VPR’s Susan Keese reports:
(Keese) Thirty-eight-year-old Patricia Blair was six months pregnant when her minivan was hit head-on on Route 7. She was airlifted with serious injuries to Dartmouth Hitchock Medical Center, where her twin fetuses died after an emergency Caesarean Section.
The accident is under investigation, but not as a fatal crash. That’s because, under Vermont law, an unborn child is not considered a person for the purposes of criminal litigation.
Mary Hahn Beerworth of the Vermont Right-to-life-Committee thinks that’s just wrong.
(Beerworth) "Patricia Blair and her husband named their two twins, they knew one was a boy and one was a girl. They named the girl Harley and the boy Caleb and the rooms were ready and quilts were made and these were unborn members of their family."
(Keese) Beerworth is spearheading an effort to get the Vermont Legislature to consider a fetal homicide law that would make it a special crime to harm an unborn child, either through negligence or intent.
Beerworth says 36 states have some version of a fetal homicide, or "unborn victims" law. The issue has been brought up in Vermont but never acted on.
Legal analyst Cheryl Hanna of the Vermont Law School says passing such a law may be difficult in Vermont because it has a strongly pro-choice Legislature.
(Hanna) "These laws are very politically motivated. And the theory is if you continue to have states grant fetuses independent rights that would ultimately undermine Roe V Wade and attack legal abortion."
(Keese) Beerworth calls it a women’s rights issue. She adds that abortion is still legal in the states that have unborn victim laws.
Hanna says Vermont does allow civil suits under its wrongful death statute.
(Hanna) "You can sue somebody for the loss of a fetus, so the Legislature has allowed for it in a civil context but not in the criminal context."
(Keese) Allen Gilbert directs the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont. He says criminal prosecution for fetal death was already addressed in the early 1990s. After a similar accident, lawmakers extended penalties for grossly negligent operation of a vehicle with death resulting, to include serious injuries as well.
(Gilbert) "And that produced the result of broadening the offense to cover fetal death because the mother is almost always a victim of serious bodily injury in a crash where her fetus dies."
(Keese) Bennington County Senator Dick Sears, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, says he wants to study the issue more closely before deciding what to do.
(Sears) "So I’ve asked legislative council to find out what other states have done, take a look at other laws and perhaps introducing a bill in January."
(Keese) Sears says he’ll also consult with Senate leadership before moving forward.
For VPR News, I’m Susan Keese.