A Senate panel voted today to approve Sen. Mike Fasano's proposal to extend homicide charges to the killing of an "unborn child," at any stage development.
Current law applies the charge to the killing of a viable fetus, which courts have generally interpreted as a development stage occurring at the end of the second trimester. Fasano's bill would expand the charge to the killing of "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."
That has sparked opposition from pro-choice activists, who argue that giving a fertilized egg the same protections afforded to a fully developed human being will erode a woman's right to have an abortion.
In committee, the New Port Richey Republican said he had no intention of jeopardizing reproductive rights currently afforded women under federal law. But the committee refused to hear a late-filed amendment from Democratic Sen. Ted Deutch, which would have clarified that nothing in the bill could be "construed to erode a woman's reproductive rights" under the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision.
The bill, which divided Democrats on the committee, has two more committee stops in the Senate and awaits consideration in the House.
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