Well, they’ve shown their hand, folks. Democrats in two of the nation’s most far-left states have introduced legislation that could effectively legalize infanticide by preventing law enforcement from investigating cases of infant death. This proves what many of us have assumed all along — that the left has absolutely zero regard for human life.
California’s AB 2223 and Maryland’s Senate Bill 669, both introduced in February, feature similar language. It’s long been abortion advocates’ warning that if pro-lifers had their way, every miscarriage would result in a criminal investigation. The bills, of which Maryland’s is named the “Pregnant Person’s Freedom Act of 2022,” are apparently aimed at preventing that. California’s bill states that a “person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.” (emphasis added)
According to LifeSite News, the Maryland bill also “prohibits investigations and criminal prosecutions for women and medical professionals for a ‘failure to act’ in relation to a ‘perinatal death.’ The big, glaring problem here is that neither state’s introduced legislation defines the word “perinatal.” By including the language of “perinatal death” in their bills and failing to define it, this legislation could effectively outlaw the investigation of infanticides taking place several weeks after a child’s birth.
Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri told LifeSiteNews the following regarding California’s proposal.
“‘[AB 2223] exposes the false narrative that the abortion lobby has been peddling for over half a century: That no one knows when life begins, and babies in their mothers’ wombs feel no pain. No sane person can deny that a newborn infant is a fully developed human being, one that is capable of feeling intense pain. Yet, by including ‘perinatal’ in its provisions, [the bill] would authorize the brutal murder of these infants even after they are born.’
“LiMandri, an author and lecturer who has appeared and been published nationally and internationally, noted that the definition of the term ‘perinatal’ varies, spanning weeks or even years after an infant is born.”
California’s bill also comes on the heels of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s comments about making his state a “sanctuary” for abortion should Roe v. Wade ever be overturned.
Abortion advocates will likely argue that it is not the intent of these bills to legalize the killing of fully-delivered infant children up to several weeks old. But if it is not, then why use a word like “perinatal” and keep the language so vague and undefined? These bills seem to be a direct response to pro-life legislation passed by multiple states last year, both as a virtue signal to ensure activists in these deep blue states that they are adequately pro-abortion, and as a form of preparing for the impact their potential Supreme Court cases may have on the federal right to abortion ensured by the Roe v. Wade ruling.
Sane individuals both in less radical states as well as more moderate areas of California and Maryland will likely look at these gruesome bills in abject horror. Many of whom will likely bring some of that shock and disgust with them to the polls this November.
Brady Bowyer is a veteran of many political campaigns ranging from the municipal to federal level, as well as several pro-freedom PACs and nonprofits. Check out more of Brady’s work on his Substack, Leaning into Liberty. He and his wife are proud to call South Carolina’s Lowcountry their home.
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