Lawmakers reach agreement on infant-life bill

A mother who kills her newborn baby while it is still attached to her by the umbilical cord can be charged with murder under legislation the General Assembly approved Saturday after much thought.

Two bills sponsored by Sen. Steve Newman and Del. Kathy Byron merely tried to make it clear that, in cases like two that have occurred in Campbell County, a murder is being committed when a woman smothers or drowns her infant immediately after birth.

Prosecutors decided they couldn’t charge the women in those two cases with murder because, with the cords and placentas still in place, there was no proof the infants could survive independently from the mothers.

It took all of the assembly’s 60-day session to add the proper 39 words to the state’s homicide statutes. Three meetings with the attorney general’s office and medical experts were needed, said Newman, R-Lynchburg.

“I am extremely pleased to see the bill passed,” Newman said. “Clearly, this was a complicated section of the code.”

Byron, R-Campbell County, said, “It is beyond my comprehension that any mother would take the life of their newborn child. An infant deserves the same protection of life that is given in the courts to every other Virginian. The legislature has an obligation to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and that is what these bills were intended to do.”

The legal labyrinth the bills opened up could have affected other laws, including: how doctors practice medicine, how partial-birth abortions are performed, stillborn births and midwifery. From a prosecutor’s viewpoint, the issues could involve deciding whether a case is first-degree murder, accidental death, or something in between.

Further complicating debate about the bills was English common law dating back to the 14th Century. In those days, the question of when a newborn infant was judged to be alive and separate from its mother “became an issue in inheritance and royalty” involving succession to the crown of England, said Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax County.

Those early traditions became embedded in American case law through legal decisions down the centuries, Newman said.

“I think the compromise we were able to come up with will ensure” that a prosecution will be possible in cases where “the umbilical cord was not cut and placenta was still in place,” Newman said.

Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham, who represents part of Campbell County, also helped lawmakers work through the legal complexities, Newman said.

Although the legal language that was passed Saturday had been drafted by the attorney general’s office, it appeared similar to Byron’s original bill.

It says: “For the purposes of this article, the fact that the umbilical cord has not been cut or that the placenta remains attached shall not be considered in determining whether a human infant has achieved an independent and separate existence.”

If Gov. Bob McDonnell signs the legislation without suggesting any changes, it will become law July 1.