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Senate Study Bill 3009

Bill Text

PAG LIN
  1  1    Section 1.  Section 707.7, Code 2003, is amended to read as
  1  2 follows:
  1  3    707.7  FETICIDE – VOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER OF AN UNBORN
  1  4 CHILD.
  1  5    1.  For the purposes of this section:
  1  6    a.  "Another" means the unborn child or any human being
  1  7 other than the person committing the act.
  1  8    b.  "Forcible felony" means forcible felony as defined in
  1  9 section 702.11.
  1 10    c.  "Great bodily harm" includes, but is not limited to,
  1 11 permanent disability or disfigurement.
  1 12    d.  "Unborn child" means the offspring of a human being,
  1 13 from conception until birth.
  1 14    e.  "Without lawful justification" means acting under
  1 15 circumstances in which the use of lethal force is not legally
  1 16 justified.
  1 17    2.  Any person who intentionally terminates a human
  1 18 pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of the
  1 19 pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of the
  1 20 pregnancy where and without lawful justification causes the
  1 21 death of the fetus results an unborn child commits feticide.
  1 22 if the person does any of the following:
  1 23    a.  Intends to cause the death of or do great bodily harm
  1 24 to another or knows that the person's acts will cause great
  1 25 bodily harm to another, resulting in the death of an unborn
  1 26 child.
  1 27    b.  Knows that the person's acts create a strong
  1 28 probability of death or great bodily harm to another,
  1 29 resulting in the death of an unborn child.
  1 30    c.  Attempts to commit or commits a forcible felony,
  1 31 resulting in the death of an unborn child.
  1 32    d.  Perpetrates an act eminently dangerous to another and
  1 33 evinces a depraved mind, without regard to human life or the
  1 34 life of an unborn child, resulting in the death of an unborn
  1 35 child.
  2  1    Feticide is a class "C" felony.
  2  2    Any person who attempts to intentionally terminate a human
  2  3 pregnancy, with the knowledge and voluntary consent of the
  2  4 pregnant person, after the end of the second trimester of the
  2  5 pregnancy where death of the fetus does not result commits
  2  6 attempted feticide.  Attempted feticide is a class "D" felony.
  2  7    3.  Any person who without lawful justification causes the
  2  8 death of an unborn child is guilty of voluntary manslaughter
  2  9 of an unborn child if the person does any of the following:
  2 10    a.  Causes the death of another as the result of sudden,
  2 11 violent, and irresistible passion resulting from serious
  2 12 provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a person and
  2 13 there is not an interval between the provocation and the
  2 14 killing in which a person of ordinary reason and temperament
  2 15 would regain control and suppress the impulse to kill,
  2 16 resulting in the death of an unborn child.
  2 17    b.  Commits or attempts to commit a misdemeanor offense
  2 18 with such force or violence that the death of or great bodily
  2 19 harm to another was reasonably foreseeable, resulting in the
  2 20 death of an unborn child.
  2 21    c.  Intends to cause the death of an unborn child because
  2 22 the person is coerced by threats and the threats cause the
  2 23 person to reasonably believe that the person's act is the only
  2 24 means of preventing imminent death to the person or another,
  2 25 resulting in the death of an unborn child.
  2 26    Voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child is a class "C"
  2 27 felony.
  2 28    4.  This section shall not apply to the termination of a
  2 29 human pregnancy performed the causing of the death of an
  2 30 unborn child by a physician licensed in this state to practice
  2 31 medicine or surgery when in the best clinical judgment of the
  2 32 physician the termination causing of the death of the unborn
  2 33 child is performed to preserve the life or health of the
  2 34 pregnant person or of the fetus unborn child and every
  2 35 reasonable medical effort not inconsistent with preserving the
  3  1 life of the pregnant person is made to preserve the life of a
  3  2 viable fetus unborn child.
  3  3    5.  Any person who terminates a human pregnancy causes the
  3  4 death of an unborn child, with the knowledge and voluntary
  3  5 consent of the pregnant person, who is not a person licensed
  3  6 to practice medicine and surgery under the provisions of
  3  7 chapter 148, or an osteopathic physician and surgeon licensed
  3  8 to practice osteopathic medicine and surgery under the
  3  9 provisions of chapter 150A, commits a class "C" felony.
  3 10    Sec. 2.  Section 707.8, Code 2003, is amended to read as
  3 11 follows:
  3 12    707.8  NONCONSENSUAL TERMINATION KILLING OF AN UNBORN CHILD
  3 13 – SERIOUS INJURY TO A HUMAN PREGNANCY AN UNBORN CHILD.
  3 14    1.  A person who terminates a human pregnancy kills an
  3 15 unborn child without the consent of the pregnant person during
  3 16 the commission of a forcible felony is guilty of a class "B"
  3 17 felony.
  3 18    2.  A person who terminates a human pregnancy kills an
  3 19 unborn child without the consent of the pregnant person during
  3 20 the commission of a felony or felonious assault is guilty of a
  3 21 class "C" felony.
  3 22    3.  A person who intentionally terminates a human pregnancy
  3 23 kills an unborn child without the knowledge and voluntary
  3 24 consent of the pregnant person is guilty of a class "C"
  3 25 felony.
  3 26    4.  A person who unintentionally terminates a human
  3 27 pregnancy kills an unborn child by any of the means provided
  3 28 pursuant to section 707.6A, subsection 1, is guilty of a class
  3 29 "C" felony.
  3 30    5.  A person who by force or intimidation procures the
  3 31 consent of the pregnant person to a termination of a human
  3 32 pregnancy kill an unborn child is guilty of a class "C"
  3 33 felony.
  3 34    6.  A person who unintentionally terminates a human
  3 35 pregnancy kills an unborn child while drag racing in violation
  4  1 of section 321.278 is guilty of a class "D" felony.
  4  2    7.  A person who unintentionally terminates a human
  4  3 pregnancy kills an unborn child without the knowledge and
  4  4 voluntary consent of the pregnant person by the commission of
  4  5 an act in a manner likely to cause the termination death of or
  4  6 serious injury to a human pregnancy an unborn child is guilty
  4  7 of an aggravated misdemeanor.
  4  8    8.  A person commits an aggravated misdemeanor when the
  4  9 person intentionally causes serious injury to a human
  4 10 pregnancy an unborn child by the commission of an act in a
  4 11 manner likely to cause the termination death of or serious
  4 12 injury to a human pregnancy an unborn child.
  4 13    9.  A person commits an aggravated misdemeanor when the
  4 14 person unintentionally causes serious injury to a human
  4 15 pregnancy an unborn child by any of the means described in
  4 16 section 707.6A, subsection 1.
  4 17    10.  A person commits a serious misdemeanor when the person
  4 18 unintentionally causes serious injury to a human pregnancy an
  4 19 unborn child by the commission of an act in a manner likely to
  4 20 cause the termination death of or serious injury to the human
  4 21 pregnancy unborn child.
  4 22    11.  For the purposes of this section "serious:
  4 23    a.  "Serious injury to a human pregnancy an unborn child"
  4 24 means, relative to the human pregnancy unborn child, disabling
  4 25 mental illness, or bodily injury which creates a substantial
  4 26 risk of death or which causes serious permanent disfigurement,
  4 27 or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily
  4 28 member or organ, and includes but is not limited to skull
  4 29 fractures, rib fractures, and metaphyseal fractures of the
  4 30 long bones.
  4 31    b.  "Unborn child" means the offspring of a human being,
  4 32 from conception to birth.
  4 33    12.  As used in this section, actions which cause the
  4 34 termination death of or serious injury to a pregnancy an
  4 35 unborn child do not apply to any of the following:
  5  1    a.  An act or omission of the pregnant person.
  5  2    b.  A termination death of or a serious injury to a
  5  3 pregnancy an unborn child which is caused by the performance
  5  4 of an approved medical procedure performed by a person
  5  5 licensed in this state to practice medicine and surgery or
  5  6 osteopathic medicine and surgery, irrespective of the duration
  5  7 of the pregnancy and with or without the voluntary consent of
  5  8 the pregnant person when circumstances preclude the pregnant
  5  9 person from providing consent.
  5 10    c.  An act committed in self-defense or in defense of
  5 11 another person or any other act committed if legally justified
  5 12 or excused.
  5 13    Sec. 3.  Section 707.9, Code 2003, is amended to read as
  5 14 follows:
  5 15    707.9  MURDER OF FETUS UNBORN CHILD ABORTED ALIVE.
  5 16    A person who intentionally kills a viable fetus unborn
  5 17 child aborted alive shall be guilty of a class "B" felony.
  5 18    Sec. 4.  Section 707.10, Code 2003, is amended to read as
  5 19 follows:
  5 20    707.10  DUTY TO PRESERVE THE LIFE OF THE FETUS UNBORN
  5 21 CHILD.
  5 22    A person who performs or induces a termination causes the
  5 23 death of a human pregnancy an unborn child and who willfully
  5 24 fails to exercise that degree of professional skill, care, and
  5 25 diligence available to preserve the life and health of a
  5 26 viable fetus unborn child shall be guilty of a serious
  5 27 misdemeanor.  For the purpose of this section, "unborn child"
  5 28 means the offspring of a human being, from conception to
  5 29 birth.  
  5 30                           EXPLANATION
  5 31    This bill amends portions of the Code relating to feticide,
  5 32 nonconsensual termination, murder of a fetus aborted alive,
  5 33 and the duty to preserve the life of the fetus.
  5 34    The bill amends Code section 707.7, relating to feticide.
  5 35 Currently, the Code section provides that a person who
  6  1 intentionally terminates a human pregnancy with the knowledge
  6  2 and voluntary consent of the pregnant person after the end of
  6  3 the second trimester and death of the fetus results commits
  6  4 feticide, which is a class "C" felony.  Additionally, the Code
  6  5 section currently provides that a person who attempts to
  6  6 intentionally terminate a human pregnancy with the knowledge
  6  7 and voluntary consent of the pregnant person after the end of
  6  8 the second trimester and death of the fetus does not result
  6  9 commits attempted feticide, which is a class "D" felony.
  6 10    The bill changes these provisions under Code section 707.7
  6 11 so that a person commits feticide if the person intentionally
  6 12 and without lawful justification causes the death of an unborn
  6 13 child without limitation as to the length of the pregnancy,
  6 14 and meets one of four other elements, resulting in the death
  6 15 of an unborn child:  intends to cause the death of or do great
  6 16 bodily harm to another or knows that the person's acts will
  6 17 cause great bodily harm to another; knows that the person's
  6 18 acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm
  6 19 to another; attempts to commit or commits a forcible felony;
  6 20 or perpetrates an act eminently dangerous to another and
  6 21 evinces a depraved mind, without regard to human life or the
  6 22 life of an unborn child.
  6 23    The bill eliminates the provision under Code section 707.7
  6 24 related to attempted feticide, but adds a provision relating
  6 25 to voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child.  Under the bill,
  6 26 a person commits voluntary manslaughter of an unborn child if
  6 27 the person, without lawful justification, causes the death of
  6 28 an unborn child, and meets one of three other elements,
  6 29 resulting in the death of an unborn child:  causes the death
  6 30 of another as a result of sudden and violent passion resulting
  6 31 from serious provocation without an interval to regain
  6 32 control; commits or attempts to commit a misdemeanor offense
  6 33 with such force or violence that the death of or great bodily
  6 34 harm to another was reasonably foreseeable; or intends to
  6 35 cause the death of an unborn child because the person is
  7  1 coerced by threats and the threats cause the person to
  7  2 reasonably believe that the person's act is the only means of
  7  3 preventing imminent death to the person or another.  Voluntary
  7  4 manslaughter of an unborn child is a class "C" felony.
  7  5    The bill also changes the terminology used in Code section
  7  6 707.7 of "terminating a human pregnancy" to "causing the death
  7  7 of an unborn child" and "fetus" to "unborn child".
  7  8    The bill amends Code section 707.8, relating to
  7  9 nonconsensual termination and serious injury to a human
  7 10 pregnancy.  The bill changes the terminology of "terminating a
  7 11 human pregnancy" to "killing an unborn child".
  7 12    The bill defines terms including "another", "forcible
  7 13 felony", "great bodily harm", "unborn child", and "without
  7 14 lawful justification".
  7 15    The bill also makes conforming changes in Code section
  7 16 707.9, relating to murder of a fetus aborted alive, by
  7 17 replacing the term "fetus" with "unborn child" and in Code
  7 18 section 707.10, relating to the duty to preserve the life of
  7 19 the fetus, by replacing the term "termination of a human
  7 20 pregnancy" with "causes the death of an unborn child" and
  7 21 "fetus" with "unborn child".  
  7 22 LSB 5559YC 80
  7 23 pf/pj/5
     

Text: SSB03008                          Text: SSB03010
Text: SSB03000 - SSB03099               Text: SSB Index
Bills and Amendments: General Index     Bill History: General Index

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