Legislation protecting the rights of an unborn child passed the House of Representatives unanimously in January but so far is getting nowhere in the Senate.
“It has not moved at all,” said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program. “Pressure from the constituents is needed. We need the people to say, ‘This is the way it is going to be.’”
The bill, House Bill 19, focuses on charging a murderer with double murder if he kills a pregnant woman and her unborn child. It does not include abortion or lawful administration of medication.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Spencer Collier, R-southern Mobile County, said, “I spent a decade in law enforcement and see the need for the legislation.
“I’m very pleased we considered it early in the session,” he said. “It now falls to the leadership of the Senate to ensure the bill gets a fair debate on the floor.”
A similar bill, Senate Bill 383, was introduced Jan. 31 by Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, but his bill excludes unborn children under 19 weeks of age.
“That deals with when life begins,” Ireland said. “That bill gets into deciding when a baby is a baby.”
At press time, Collier’s and Barron’s legislation was pending action in the Senate judiciary committee. The Senate companion bill to Collier’s House bill, Senate Bill 7, sponsored by Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Baldwin County, was also pending action in that committee.
This same type of legislation passed the House in 2005 but died in the Senate.
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