Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) presented a bill at a public hearing on Monday in the Judiciary Committee, which would define unborn children as persons in the criminal code for charging and adjudication in murder, manslaughter, and assault cases.
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“This bill closes a glaring gap in Maine’s criminal law by protecting unborn children at every stage of gestation, from conception to birth. By defining an unborn child as a ‘person’ under sections 201 to 203 and 207 to 208-F, it holds perpetrators accountable for harming both a pregnant woman and her unborn child,” said Rep. Paul.
“When violence causes the loss of an unborn child, the mother’s suffering is compounded, and families deserve justice that reflects the full scope of their loss,” she explained.
Paul’s bill, LD 1930, would constitute a small victory for pro-lifers in a state that has some of the most radical abortion policies in the nation and places essentially no limits on abortion up to birth. It drew support from seven Republican co-sponsors.
The simple bill ensures that the terms “person” or “human being” also apply to unborn children starting at conception in criminal codes, allowing a violent assault on a pregnant woman that results in the death of her child to be prosecuted as murder.
Paul’s testimony highlighted the tragic story of Heather Sargent, who was murdered in 2003 by her husband when she was eight months pregnant. Although her husband was convicted of her murder, he did not face additional consequences for murdering the unborn child.
She argued that, just as Maine law was changed in 2023 to allow late-term abortions after Dana Peirce sought one due to a fatal fetal diagnosis, it can be changed based on Sargent’s tragic case.
“If Maine’s laws can be changed based on one woman’s experience, as they were in 2023 for Dana Peirce, who sought an abortion at eight months due to a fatal fetal diagnosis—a diagnosis often proven wrong—then one case, like Heather Sargent’s, is surely enough to rewrite Maine’s criminal law to provide justice for mothers who lose their babies to violence,” said Reagan.
The bill provides exceptions for cases in which a child’s mother kills her own unborn baby, and does not apply to surgical or chemical abortions.
Passing Paul’s proposal into law would put Maine in the strange position of recognizing an unborn baby as a human being in some cases, while denying the same baby’s personhood in another. However, the exception will give the bill a better chance of success than it would have if it functioned as a complete abortion ban.
“Some may claim this bill overreaches, but its exemptions limit it strictly to criminal acts by third parties, like assault or domestic violence, that harm a mother and her unborn child,” said Paul.
Americans United for Life testified during the public hearing and voiced their strong support for Paul’s bill.
“The importance of holding perpetrators more stringently accountable for violence
against Maine’s pregnant citizens cannot be overstated. Multiple studies have found
that pregnant women are significantly more likely to be victims of violence and
homicide than nonpregnant women,” they said.
“By including unborn children as persons for purposes of charging homicide and assault, Maine can show that it cares about holding perpetrators accountable and preventing violence against its pregnant citizens. The pregnant women of Maine and their unborn children deserve your protection,” the group added.
Other testimonies were far less favorable, with some claiming that the bill creates a slippery slope that will be used to justify a future abortion ban.
“It is the first step towards outlawing abortion in the state of Maine. Following the logic of this bill, if a zygote is a human being, then abortion is murder,” said Christine Szala of Damariscotta.
“A zygote is not a human being by any scientific or common sense standards and
should not be defined as such. Instead of trying to redefine life, it would be better to
actually work towards preventing violence against pregnant women, most of which is
committed by a domestic partner. Men are the real cause of violence against women.
This bill would be yet another assault on a woman’s bodily autonomy,” she added.
Planned Parenthood of New England also weighed in, unsurprisingly opposing any increase in rights or protections for unborn children.
“LD 1930, under the guise of protecting pregnant women from violence, effectively rewrites the Maine Criminal Code to incorporate the anti-abortion concept of ‘fetal personhood.’ This proposed change is not a stand-alone effort but should instead be viewed as part of a concerted campaign by anti-abortion activists to establish fetal personhood,” said the abortion provider.
No work session has yet been scheduled for LD 1930. Even with the exception, the bill appears unlikely to pass through a legislature controlled by the state’s radically pro-abortion Democrats.
