NH House Rejects Treating Fetus As Person

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The New Hampshire House has rejected a bill that would have allowed prosecutors to charge people who kill a fetus with murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide.

The House voted 219-122 to kill the bill.

Opponents said the bill was an attempt to define an unborn child in statute.

Supporters argued it has nothing to do with abortion and is in response to a 2006 case where a speeding driver slammed his car into a cab, killing a passenger. The cab driver was pregnant and delivered a baby who wasn’t breathing, but was kept alive temporarily on life support.

The state Supreme Court threw out the driver’s conviction in the baby’s death because state law does not consider a fetus a person unless the baby shows evidence of life.

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