HB518INTRODUCED
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HB518
4HT1333-1
By Representatives Yarbrough, Butler, Whorton, Harrison,
Mooney, Carns
RFD: Health
First Read: 03-Apr-25
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6 4HT1333-1 04/03/2025 GP (L)lg 2025-794
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First Read: 03-Apr-25
SYNOPSIS:
Under existing law, a person may not be
prosecuted for homicide or assault if the victim is an
unborn child in utero and the death or injury results
from certain lawful medical care or medication.
This bill would create the Prenatal Equal
Protection Act and would authorize prosecutions for
homicide or assault if the victim is an unborn child
from the moment of fertilization at any stage of
development, unless: (i) the death or injury occurred
in attempts to save the life of the mother and
reasonable steps were taken to save the life of the
unborn child; or (ii) the death was a spontaneous
miscarriage.
This bill would remove a provision that exempts
from the crimes of homicide or assault the death or
injury of an unborn child allegedly caused by
medication or medical care or treatment provided to a
pregnant woman when performed by a licensed health care
provider.
This bill would delete a provision that
prohibits a woman from being prosecuted for homicide or
assault of her own unborn child or for conduct relating
to an abortion.
This bill would authorize duress as a defense to
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This bill would authorize duress as a defense to
murder if the victim is an unborn child and the
defendant is the child's mother.
This bill would also require that prosecutions
of homicide or assault where the victim is an unborn
child must be treated the same as prosecutions of
homicide or assault of a person born alive.
A BILL
TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to crimes and offenses; to amend Sections
13A-3-30 and 13A-6-1; to create the Prenatal Equal Protection
Act; to provide legislative findings; to authorize the defense
of duress in certain cases against a woman for the death of
her unborn child; to authorize prosecutions for homicide or
assault of an unborn child from the moment of fertilization;
to provide exceptions for spontaneous miscarriage and
life-saving measures for the mother; to delete provisions
prohibiting certain prosecutions relating to the death or
injury to an unborn child; and to require that certain
prosecutions where the victim is an unborn child must be
treated as the same as if the unborn child were born alive.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as
the Prenatal Equal Protection Act.
Section 2. The Legislature finds and declares the
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Section 2. The Legislature finds and declares the
following:
(1) That in Section 36.06 of the Constitution of
Alabama of 2022, "[t]his state acknowledges, declares, and
affirms that it is the public policy of this state to
recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the
rights of unborn children, including the right to life;"
"[t]his state further acknowledges, declares, and affirms that
it is the public policy of this state to ensure the protection
of the rights of the unborn child in all manners and measures
lawful and appropriate;" and that "[n]othing in [the]
constitution secures or protects a right to abortion or
requires the funding of an abortion."
(2) That the Alabama Supreme Court has held that
Section 36.06 of the Constitution of Alabama of 2022, is a
"constitutionally imposed canon of construction, directing
courts to construe ambiguous statutes in a way that
'protect[s]...the rights of the unborn child' equally with the
rights of born children, whenever such construction is 'lawful
and appropriate.'" LePage v. Ctr. for Reprod. Med., P.C., Nos.
SC-2022-0515, SC-2022-0579 (Feb. 16, 2024).
(3) That the Constitution of the United States requires
that "[n]o state shall...deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
(4) That, accordingly, the sanctity of innocent human
life, created in the image of God, should be equally protected
from fertilization to natural death.
(5) That all preborn children from the moment of
fertilization have the right to life and equal protection of
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fertilization have the right to life and equal protection of
the laws.
(6) That to fulfill this equal protection requirement,
the lives of preborn individuals must be protected with the
same criminal and civil laws protecting the lives of born
individuals.
(7) That all persons potentially subject to such laws
are entitled to due process.
Section 3. Sections 13A-3-30 and 13A-6-1, Code of
Alabama 1975, are amended to read as follows:
"§13A-3-30
(a) It is a defense to prosecution that the actor
engaged in the proscribed conduct because he or she was
compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or serious
physical injury to himself or herself or another.
(b) The defense provided by this section is unavailable
if the actor intentionally or recklessly placed himself or
herself in a situation in which it was probable that he or she
would be subjected to duress. The defense is also unavailable
if he or she was negligent in placing himself or herself in
such a situation, whenever negligence suffices to establish
culpability for the offense charged.
(c) It is no defense that a person acted at the command
or persuasion of his or her spouse, unless such compulsion
would establish a defense under this section. The presumption
that a woman is subject to compulsion when acting in the
presence of her husband is abolished.
(d) The Except where the victim is an unborn child and
the defendant is the child's mother, the defense provided by
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the defendant is the child's mother, the defense provided by
this section is unavailable in a prosecution for:
(1) murder Murder; or
(2) any Any killing of another under aggravated
circumstances, as provided by Article 2 of Chapter 5 of this
title."
"§13A-6-1
(a) As used in Article 1 and Article 2, the following
terms shall have the following meanings ascribed to them by
this section:
(1) CRIMINAL HOMICIDE. Murder, manslaughter, or
criminally negligent homicide.
(2) FERTILIZATION. The fusion of a human spermatozoon
with a human ovum.
(3) HOMICIDE. A person commits criminal homicide if he
or she intentionally, knowingly, recklessly , or with criminal
negligence causes the death of another person.
(4)(3) PERSON. The term, when referring to the victim
of a criminal homicide or assault, means a human being,
including an unborn child in utero from the moment of
fertilization at any stage of development, regardless of
viability.
(5) SPONTANEOUS MISCARRIAGE. The natural or accidental
termination of pregnancy and the expulsion of the unborn
child.
(b)(1) Article 1 or Article 2 shall not apply to the
death or injury to an unborn child alleged to be caused by
medication or medical care or treatment provided to a pregnant
woman when performed by a physician or other licensed health
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woman when performed by a physician or other licensed health
care provider:
a. The undertaking of life-saving procedures to save
the life of the mother when accompanied by reasonable steps to
save the life of the unborn child; or
b. Spontaneous miscarriage .
(2) Mistake, or unintentional error on the part of a
licensed physician or other licensed health care provider or,
his or her employee or agent , or any person acting on behalf
of the patient shall not subject the licensed physician or
other licensed health care provider or person acting on behalf
of the patient to any criminal liability under this section.
Medical care or treatment includes, but is not limited
to, ordering, dispensation or administration of prescribed
medications and medical procedures.
(c) A victim of domestic violence or sexual assault may
not be charged under Article 1 or Article 2 for the injury or
death of an unborn child caused by a crime of domestic
violence or rape perpetrated upon her.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, both
of the following apply in any prosecution under Article 1 or
Article 2 where the victim is an unborn child:
(1) Enforcement shall be subject to the same legal
principles as would apply if the victim were a person who had
been born alive, including the same legal presumptions,
defenses, justifications, laws of parties, immunities, and
clemencies.
(2) District attorneys and the Attorney General shall
have concurrent authority to prosecute criminal cases and to
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have concurrent authority to prosecute criminal cases and to
perform any duty that necessarily appertains to such
authority.Nothing in Article 1 or Article 2 shall permit the
prosecution of (1) any person for conduct relating to an
abortion for which the consent of the pregnant woman or a
person authorized by law to act on her behalf has been
obtained or for which consent is implied by law or (2) any
woman with respect to her unborn child.
(e) Nothing in this section shall make it a crime to
perform or obtain an abortion that is otherwise legal. Nothing
in this section shall be construed to make an abortion legal
which is not otherwise authorized by law. "
Section 4. The changes in law made by this act apply
only to conduct that occurs on or after the effective date of
this act. Conduct that occurs before the effective date of
this act is governed by the law in effect immediately before
the effective date of this act, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
Section 5. This act shall become effective on June 1,
2025.
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