House Passes "First Degree Homicide of the Unborn Child Bill"

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by: nancycronk

From State Rep Daniel Kagan:

This morning, on a party line vote, Colorado House Republicans passed a bill imposing “person hood”.

The party-line vote was 33-32.

HB12-1130, sponsored by Rep. Janak Joshi (Republican), would create a new class of crime victim – “an unborn member of the species homo sapiens.”

Statutes already exist in Colorado imposing additional penalties on perpetrators who knew, or should have known, that their victims were pregnant women. But the Joshi bill would allow murder charges to be filed against someone who causes a miscarriage.

Colorado voters have twice overwhelmingly rejected proposed constitutional amendments that would confer “personhood” rights on fetuses, and many organizations have expressed concerns about the potential effects of the bill.

Even the Colorado Catholic Conference declined to support it.

Rep. Daniel Kagan of House District 3 has become an outspoken advocate for human rights issues, from gay marriage, to pro-choice, to developmental disabilities, to worker’s rights for rural shepherds. Kagans family history includes family members who were victims of the Holocaust. Kagan’s facebook status has become a popular place for women all over Colorado to look for updates on women’s rights issues in the legislature. This morning, Representative Kagan did not disappoint his supporters, posting this timely update during one of his breaks.

Time to organize.

8 thoughts on “House Passes “First Degree Homicide of the Unborn Child Bill””

nancycronk says:

March 19, 2012 at 9:58 pm

Since I met Daniel Kagan four years ago, I have constantly been impressed by his approachability, compassion, and genuine determination to fight for people who have little political power. While sharing a cup of joe (or was it a beer for him and wine for me?) with him once, he told us how angry he was when legislators were disresectful to a room full of parents testifying on behalf of a bill to help their disabled children. Daniel has gone to bat for rural shepherds in a part of the state where he has no donors or voters. Daniel Kagan has gone to bat for homeless streetkids stuck in a life of human trafficking. Daniel stayed home from being with his dying mother (literally — and with her insistence) to speak out in favor of gay marriage. And now, Daniel is standing with women all across Colorado who see this bill as a precursor of things to come from the extreme right.

When Colorado legislators see Colorado women standing behind them — because they’ve stood behind us — perhaps more of them will have the guts to do the things Daniel does. Women friends — please support Daniel’s re-election. We have some strong allies at the State Capitol, and Daniel Kagan is one of the strongest. http://www.dankagan.com/

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1. nancycronk says:
  
  March 19, 2012 at 9:59 pm
  
  Just a grateful citizen.
  
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2. GalapagoLarry says:
  
  March 22, 2012 at 7:20 am
  
  Redistricting bummed me, until I learned that Ferandino is now our rep. Another great person. They both spoke at our HD2 meeting Saturday and I was struck by how lucky our part of the state is to have such bright, compassionate representatives.
  
  But since Ferandino is relatively safe, I’m going to help Kagan out. He’s a wonderful person, and smarter than anyone else in HD3 by far. His Repug challenger is just another arrogant rich guy that wants to use the House job to step up to the governor’s office.
  
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  1. nancycronk says:
    
    March 22, 2012 at 7:31 am
    
    Just my adopted one. I have Balmer.
    
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Ralphie says:

March 19, 2012 at 10:07 pm

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ScottP says:

March 20, 2012 at 12:53 pm

Even if this were to become law I don’t see how it would allow murder charges to be successfully filed against anyone who causes a miscarriage.

Per C.R.S….

A homicide is “the killing of a person by another”

A person is “a human being who had been born and was alive at the time of the homicidal act.”

So by being “Unborn”, it’s impossible for a homicide to occur because a fetus isn’t a person. Unless I’m wrong somewhere (probably), this bill would create a law that doesn’t work.

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1. Phoenix Rising says:
  
  March 20, 2012 at 7:22 pm
  
  The reason the Democrats are all against this bill is that it’s an attempt to quantify a fetus as a person, albeit in a roundabout way.
  
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  1. nancycronk says:
    
    March 21, 2012 at 7:01 am
    
    You should see the stories I’m getting from women who have suffered under Draconian abortion laws, in different places at different times, and who know I blog on this issue. One was from a single woman who was raped and impregnated. The thought of being raped again with an intra-vaginal ultrasound wand terrified her.
    
    Another was from a woman in the military who was forced to carry a dead fetus for three weeks because the military hospital could not prove it was dead, despite the fact she kept telling them she was losing pieces of it throughout the day (abortion was not legal for her because taxpayers wouldn’t fund them). Yet another was from a woman with gestational diabetes who would have died if she hadn’t had an abortion — as it was, she went blind while waiting for permission to abort her fetus, to stop the gestational diabetes. Now she is a blind mother with two very young children.
    
    The stories keep coming. Do Republicans have any idea how much their goal of outlawing abortion would hurt women who desperately need them for their own health and safety? These stories are much more common than they think.
    
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