State lawmakers are weighing bills that would treat abortion as homicide
THE 19TH
None of the bills are likely to become law. But they illustrate a growing divide in the anti-abortion movement and could punish pregnant people.
Lawmakers in at least eight states are weighing bills that would treat abortion as a homicide, imposing criminal penalties on both providers and patients, once a Rubicon for the movement.
The bills, filed in Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina and Texas, stem from the Prenatal Equal Protection Act, model legislation crafted by the Texas-based advocacy group the Foundation to Abolish Abortion. Three similar bills were introduced in Indiana, North Dakota and Oklahoma but failed to pass in committee or on the floor of the legislature.