FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2015 CONTACT: Jennifer Kraska 303-894-8808 |
(Denver, CO) − Last night, the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee sadly voted along party lines (6-5) to defeat Senate Bill 268 which would have recognized unborn children as victims of certain crimes, like those recently perpetrated against baby Aurora in Longmont. It is deeply disappointing that a majority of legislators on the House State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee did not see the urgent need to fix this inadequacy in Colorado law.
The majority of states and the federal government, with support from both Democrats and Republicans, have enacted fetal homicide laws; these types of laws recognize that when a woman is pregnant and certain crimes are committed there are two victims – the woman and her unborn child. Opponents of this legislation grossly exaggerated the consequences of passing this bill and made false claims regarding various aspects of this legislation, all of which were routinely discredited and disproved.
The failure to enact a fetal homicide law in Colorado is a grave miscarriage of justice that leaves future unborn victims of crime unrecognized in Colorado law. It is our hope that legislators in Colorado will recognize their error in judgment and seek to rectify this inadequacy in Colorado law as soon as possible. In the meantime let us continue to pray for all unborn victims of crime and their families.