HOUSE BILL 111
47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005
INTRODUCED BY
Larry A. Larrañaga
AN ACT
RELATING TO CRIMES; PROVIDING PROTECTION FOR UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO: Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act".
Section 2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Unborn Victims of Violence Act:
A. "another" means the unborn child or any human being other than the actor;
B. "forcible felony" means any felonious act that involves a high risk of violence;
C. "unborn child" means a child in utero, and the term "child in utero" means a member of the species homo sapiens at any stage of development who is carried in the womb;
D. "whoever" means a person other than the pregnant woman whose unborn child is killed or injured; and
E. "without lawful justification" means acting under circumstances in which the use of lethal force is not legally justified.
Section 3. MURDER OF AN UNBORN CHILD.--
A. Whoever, without lawful justification, causes the death of an unborn child is guilty of murder of an unborn child if he:
(1) intends to cause the death of or do great bodily harm to another or knows that his acts will cause the death of or do great bodily harm to another;
(2) knows that his acts create a strong probability of the death of or great bodily harm to another;
(3) attempts or commits a forcible felony; or
(4) perpetrates an act eminently dangerous to another and evinces a depraved mind, without regard for human life.
B. The sentence for murder of an unborn child shall be equal to that for murder.
Section 4. VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OF AN UNBORN CHILD.--
A. Whoever, without lawful justification, causes the death of an unborn child is guilty of voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child if he:
(1) intends to cause the death of another in an immediate response provoked by such words or acts of another as would provoke a person of ordinary self-control under like circumstances;
(2) commits or attempts to commit a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor offense with such force or violence that the death of or great bodily harm to another was reasonably foreseeable; or
(3) intends to cause the death of an unborn child because he is coerced by threats made by someone other than his co-conspirator and that cause him to reasonably believe that his act is the only means of preventing imminent death to himself or another.
B. Voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child is a third degree felony.
Section 5. INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OF AN UNBORN CHILD.--
A. Whoever, without lawful justification, causes the death of an unborn child is guilty of involuntary manslaughter of an unborn child if he:
(1) creates an unreasonable risk by his culpable negligence and consciously takes a chance of causing death or great bodily harm to another;
(2) injures the mother of the unborn child with a firearm or other dangerous weapon as a result of negligently believing her to be an animal;
(3) sets a spring gun, pit fall, deadfall, snare or other like dangerous weapon or device; or
(4) negligently permits any animal known by the actor to have vicious propensities or to have caused great or substantial bodily harm in the past to run uncontrolled off the owner's premises or negligently fails to keep that animal properly confined.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 66-8-101.1 NMSA 1978, involuntary manslaughter of an unborn child is a fourth degree felony.
Section 6. BATTERY OF AN UNBORN CHILD.--
A. Whoever, without legal justification, inflicts great or substantial bodily harm upon an unborn child who is subsequently born alive by intentionally or knowingly touching a pregnant woman without her consent is guilty of battery of an unborn child.
B. Battery of an unborn child resulting in great bodily harm to the unborn child is a third degree felony. Battery of an unborn child resulting in substantial bodily harm to the unborn child is a misdemeanor.
C. As used in this section:
(1) "great bodily harm" includes, but is not limited to, permanent disability or disfigurement; and
(2) "substantial bodily harm" includes, but is not limited to, the birth of the unborn child prior to thirty-seven weeks gestation if the child weighs two thousand five hundred grams or less at the time of birth. "Substantial bodily harm" does not include the inducement of the unborn child's birth when done for bona fide medical purposes.
Section 7. EXCEPTIONS.--This act does not apply to:
A. acts that cause the death of an unborn child if those acts were committed during a legal abortion to which the pregnant woman, or a person authorized by law to act on her behalf, consented or for which consent is implied by law;
B. acts committed by a pregnant woman with respect to her own unborn child;
C. acts that are committed pursuant to usual and customary standards of medical practice during diagnostic testing or therapeutic treatment; or
D. acts involving the use of force in lawful self-defense or lawful defense of another.
Section 8. KNOWLEDGE OF PREGNANCY NOT REQUIRED.--An offense under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act does not require proof that:
A. the person engaging in the conduct had knowledge or should have had knowledge that the victim of the underlying offense was pregnant; or
B. the defendant intended to cause the death of, or bodily injury to, the unborn child.
Section 9. OTHER CONVICTIONS NOT BARRED.-- A prosecution for or conviction under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act is not a bar to conviction of or punishment for any other crime committed by the defendant as part of the same conduct.
Section 10. SEVERABILITY.--If any part or application of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act is held invalid, the remainder or its application to other situations or persons shall not be affected.
- 5 -