S01950 Summary:

BILL NOS01950
 
SAME ASSAME AS A03128
 
SPONSORRITCHIE
 
COSPNSRBALL, DEFRANCISCO, DIAZ, FARLEY, GOLDEN, LANZA, LARKIN, LIBOUS, LITTLE, MARCHIONE, MAZIARZ, NOZZOLIO, O'MARA, YOUNG, ZELDIN
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add SS120.75 & 120.80, amd SS125.00 & 125.05, Pen L
 
Provides that either a person or an unborn child in any stage of gestation may be the victim of an assault or homicide; also states situations when it does not constitute an assault on an unborn child such as during the course of an otherwise lawful abortion, during normal medical treatment or by the pregnant woman; defines "person" to include any human being who is born and is alive or an unborn child at any stage of gestation.
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S01950 Actions:

BILL NOS01950
 
01/09/2013REFERRED TO CODES
01/08/2014REFERRED TO CODES
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S01950 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1950
 
                               2013-2014 Regular Sessions
 
                    IN SENATE
 
                                       (Prefiled)
 
                                     January 9, 2013
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  Sens.  RITCHIE,  BALL,  FARLEY,  GOLDEN,  LANZA, LARKIN,
          LIBOUS, LITTLE, MAZIARZ, O'MARA,  YOUNG,  ZELDIN  --  read  twice  and
          ordered  printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
          Codes
 
        AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation  to  the  unborn  victims  of

          violence act
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.   Legislative intent.   The legislature  hereby  finds  and
     2  declares  that  a  significant  loophole  exists  in  state law, denying
     3  protection to pregnant women and certain children.  Currently, an offen-
     4  der may not be held criminally responsible for  the  harm  caused  to  a
     5  child unless that child has first been born alive.  Therefore, an assai-
     6  lant who shoots a woman who is seven months pregnant, and kills both the
     7  woman and her child, may only be charged with the homicide of the mother
     8  since the infant is not considered a legal victim of the crime.
     9    New  York  state  policy lags behind most states in this area of crime
    10  victims' protection.   Thirty-one  states  now  provide  protection  and

    11  justice  for pregnant women and their unborn children who are victims of
    12  violence.
    13    The legislature further finds and  declares  that  current  statistics
    14  demonstrate  that  domestic  abuse  and violence against women increases
    15  during pregnancy.  It is estimated that one in five women will be abused
    16  during pregnancy.  A study in the Journal of the American Medical  Asso-
    17  ciation  found  that  in the state of Maryland, a pregnant woman is more
    18  likely to be a victim of a homicide than to  die  of  any  other  cause.
    19  Thus, rather than pregnancy being a peaceful time of preparation and the
    20  growth  of a healthy child, for many women it can be a time of violence,
    21  grief and loss.
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                                   LBD00780-01-3

        S. 1950                             2
 
     1    Compounding this tragedy is the loophole in current law, which  denies
     2  effective  protection  and  remedy  to women and their children.  When a
     3  woman makes a conscious choice to keep her baby and has the choice viol-
     4  ently taken away from her by a violent perpetrator, justice demands that
     5  someone  be  punished  for that crime.   Indeed, mothers will bury their
     6  baby's body and mark the grave for their child for  the  rest  of  their
     7  lives, but New York law tells them their loved one never existed.
     8    The  legislature  does not intend this act to apply to any abortion to
     9  which a woman has consented, to any act of the mother herself or to  any
    10  form of medical treatment.  The legislature finds that the current legal

    11  right  to abortion does not protect and does not confer on an assailant,
    12  a third-party unilateral right to destroy an unborn child.
    13    The legislature recognizes that a federal "unborn victims of violence"
    14  law was enacted in 2004, yet believes the law to be limited in  applying
    15  only to unborn children injured or killed during the course of specified
    16  federal crimes of violence.
    17    It  is  the  intent of the legislature that the affirmative right of a
    18  pregnant woman to carry her child to term be protected, and that  perpe-
    19  trators  of  crimes  against pregnant women and their unborn children be
    20  held accountable for their crimes.
    21    § 2. Short title.  This act shall be known as and may be cited as  the
    22  "unborn victims of violence act".
    23    §  3.  The  penal law is amended by adding two new sections 120.75 and
    24  120.80 to read as follows:

    25  § 120.75 Assault and related offenses; definition.
    26    The following definition is applicable  to  sections  120.00,  120.03,
    27  120.04, 120.05, 120.06, 120.07, 120.10 and 120.12 of this article:
    28    "Person,"  when  referring  to  the  victim of any assault, aggravated
    29  assault or vehicular assault, means a human being who has been born  and
    30  is alive, or an unborn child at any stage of gestation.
    31  § 120.80 Assault and related offenses; defined.
    32    Nothing in this article shall be construed to permit the prosecution:
    33    1.  of any person for conduct relating to a justifiable abortional act
    34  for which the consent of the pregnant woman has been obtained;
    35    2. of any person for any medical treatment of the  pregnant  woman  or

    36  her unborn child; or
    37    3.  of any woman with respect to her unborn child except a prosecution
    38  for violating section 125.50 or 125.55 of this title.
    39    § 4. Section 125.00 of the penal law is amended to read as follows:
    40  § 125.00  Homicide defined.
    41    1. Homicide means conduct which causes the death of  a  person  or  an
    42  unborn  child [with which a female has been pregnant for more than twen-
    43  ty-four weeks] at any stage of gestation under circumstances  constitut-
    44  ing murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, manslaught-
    45  er  in  the  first  degree, manslaughter in the second degree, vehicular
    46  manslaughter in the first degree, vehicular manslaughter in  the  second

    47  degree or criminally negligent homicide, abortion in the first degree or
    48  self-abortion in the first degree.
    49    2.  Nothing  in  this  article shall be construed to permit the prose-
    50  cution:
    51    (a) of any person for conduct relating to a justifiable abortional act
    52  for which the consent of the pregnant woman or a  person  authorized  by
    53  law to act on her behalf, has been obtained or for which such consent is
    54  implied by law;
    55    (b) of any person for any medical treatment of a pregnant woman or her
    56  unborn child; or

        S. 1950                             3
 
     1    (c) of any woman with respect to her unborn child except a prosecution
     2  for violating section 125.50 or 125.55 of this article.

     3    §  5.  Subdivision  1 of section 125.05 of the penal law is amended to
     4  read as follows:
     5    1.  "Person," when referring to the victim  of  a  homicide,  means  a
     6  human  being  who  has  been born and is alive or an unborn child at any
     7  stage of gestation.
     8    § 6. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
     9  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
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