Bill Text: IA SF2152 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the determination of when fetal death and homicide and related criminal provisions apply to a fetus, and making penalties applicable.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-15 - Subcommittee, Horn, Garrett, and Sodders. S.J. 229. [SF2152 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-SF2152-Introduced.html

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Senate File 2152 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  CHELGREN

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the determination of when fetal death and
  2    homicide and related criminal provisions apply to a fetus,
  3    and making penalties applicable.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 136A.2, subsection 8, Code 2016, is
  1  2 amended to read as follows:
  1  3    8.  "Stillbirth" means an unintended fetal death occurring
  1  4 after a gestation period of twenty completed weeks, or an
  1  5 unintended fetal death of a fetus with a weight of three
  1  6 hundred fifty or more grams.
  1  7    Sec. 2.  Section 144.29, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2016,
  1  8 is amended to read as follows:
  1  9    A fetal death certificate for each fetal death which occurs
  1 10 in this state after a gestation period of twenty completed
  1 11 weeks or greater, or for of a fetus with a weight of three
  1 12 hundred fifty grams or more shall be filed as directed by the
  1 13 state registrar within three days after delivery and prior
  1 14 to final disposition of the fetus. The certificate shall be
  1 15 registered if it has been completed and filed in accordance
  1 16 with this chapter.
  1 17    Sec. 3.  Section 144.29A, subsection 7, paragraph c, Code
  1 18 2016, is amended to read as follows:
  1 19    c.  "Spontaneous termination of pregnancy" means the
  1 20 occurrence of an unintended termination of pregnancy at any
  1 21 time during the period from conception to twenty weeks the
  1 22 point in gestation when the fetus reaches a weight of three
  1 23 hundred fifty grams and which is not a spontaneous termination
  1 24 of pregnancy at any time during the period from twenty weeks or
  1 25  after the point in gestation when the fetus reaches a weight
  1 26  greater than three hundred fifty grams which is reported to the
  1 27 department as a fetal death under this chapter.
  1 28    Sec. 4.  Section 707.1, Code 2016, is amended to read as
  1 29 follows:
  1 30    707.1  Murder defined.
  1 31    1.  A person who kills another person with malice
  1 32 aforethought either express or implied commits murder.
  1 33    2.  "Person", when referring to the victim of a murder, means
  1 34 an individual human being from the point of gestation when the
  1 35 fetus reaches a weight of three hundred fifty grams or more
  2  1 until natural death.
  2  2    3.  Murder does not include any of the following:
  2  3    a.  A "stillbirth" as defined in section 136A.2, a
  2  4 "fetal death" as defined in section 144.1, or a "spontaneous
  2  5 termination of pregnancy" as defined in section 144.29A.
  2  6    b.  A termination of a human pregnancy performed by a
  2  7 physician licensed in this state to practice medicine or
  2  8 surgery or osteopathic medicine or surgery when in the best
  2  9 clinical judgment of the physician the termination is performed
  2 10 to preserve the life or health of the pregnant person or of the
  2 11 fetus and every reasonable medical effort not inconsistent with
  2 12 preserving the life of the pregnant person is made to preserve
  2 13 the life of a viable fetus.
  2 14    Sec. 5.  Section 707.7, subsections 1 and 2, Code 2016, are
  2 15 amended to read as follows:
  2 16    1.  Any person who intentionally terminates a human
  2 17 pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of the
  2 18 pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of the
  2 19 pregnancy fetus reaches a weight of three hundred fifty grams
  2 20 or more where death of the fetus results commits feticide.
  2 21 Feticide is a class "C" felony.
  2 22    2.  Any person who attempts to intentionally terminate a
  2 23 human pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of
  2 24 the pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of
  2 25 the pregnancy fetus reaches a weight of three hundred fifty
  2 26 grams or more where death of the fetus does not result commits
  2 27 attempted feticide. Attempted feticide is a class "D" felony.
  2 28    Sec. 6.  Section 707.9, Code 2016, is amended to read as
  2 29 follows:
  2 30    707.9  Murder of fetus aborted alive.
  2 31    A person who intentionally kills a viable fetus that has
  2 32 reached a weight of three hundred fifty grams or more aborted
  2 33 alive shall be guilty of a class "B" felony.
  2 34    Sec. 7.  Section 707.10, Code 2016, is amended to read as
  2 35 follows:
  3  1    707.10  Duty to preserve the life of the fetus.
  3  2    A person who performs or induces a termination of a human
  3  3 pregnancy and who willfully fails to exercise that degree of
  3  4 professional skill, care, and diligence available to preserve
  3  5 the life and health of a viable fetus that has reached a weight
  3  6 of three hundred fifty grams or more shall be guilty of a
  3  7 serious misdemeanor.
  3  8                           EXPLANATION
  3  9 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  3 10 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  3 11    This bill relates to the determination of when fetal death
  3 12 and homicide and related criminal provisions apply to a fetus.
  3 13    The bill redefines "stillbirth" and "spontaneous termination
  3 14 of pregnancy", and describes fetal death for the purposes of
  3 15 the required filing of a fetal death certificate, so that all
  3 16 these terms are based on the fetus' weight relative to 350
  3 17 grams.
  3 18    The bill defines the term "person" in the context of the
  3 19 victim of a murder to mean an individual human being from the
  3 20 point of gestation when the fetus reaches a weight of 350
  3 21 grams or more until natural death.  However, the bill provides
  3 22 that murder does not include a stillbirth, a fetal death, or a
  3 23 spontaneous termination of pregnancy.
  3 24    The bill also amends provisions relating to feticide
  3 25 to apply the elements of that crime to a human pregnancy
  3 26 after the fetus reaches a weight of 350 grams and eliminates
  3 27 the alternative of application to a fetus after the second
  3 28 trimester of a pregnancy.
  3 29    The bill amends provisions relating to the murder of a fetus
  3 30 aborted alive and the duty to preserve the life of a fetus on
  3 31 which a termination of pregnancy has been induced or performed,
  3 32 to apply to a fetus that has reached the weight of 350 grams
  3 33 or more rather than a fetus that has reached the stage of
  3 34 viability.
  3 35    The criminal penalties that currently apply to murder,
  4  1 feticide, nonconsensual termination of a human pregnancy,
  4  2 murder of a fetus aborted alive, and violation of the duty to
  4  3 preserve the life of a fetus, are applicable, respectively, to
  4  4 the provisions of the bill.
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