On the Assembly Judiciary Committee, AB 2223 passed by a 6-2 vote April 8 after Democrats allowed the bill to pass with language that shields pregnant mothers from criminal and civil charges from a miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion or perinatal death.
The bill was introduced after criminal charges were filed against two women over stillbirths, but is the bill’s use of “perinatal” that is causing an uproar. That term could mean the mother is not held responsible for the death of a newborn hours, days and weeks after birth.
In other words: infanticide.
The bill is sponsored by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat, who is working with abortion giant Planned Parenthood to introduce eight bills during the current session, The Sacramento Bee reported.
Susan Arnall, an attorney with Right to Life League, tells AFN the term “perinatal” plainly includes the time period after a baby is born.
“That's what it means, and by insisting on keeping that in the bill,” Arnall says, “Buffy Wicks is insisting on infanticide.”
Responding to pressure from pro-life activists, Wicks amended her own bill and now it states “perinatal death due to a pregnancy-related cause.”
Wicks, of course, could have dropped the term from her bill but did not, and pro-life groups and pro-life lawmakers are continuing to call attention to the term knowing how radical abortion supporters view an unwanted fetus and the sacred-like act of abortion.
Charles LiMandri, an attorney with Thomas More Law Center, told LifeSiteNews.com the new language “lessens but does not eliminate” concerns California will allow infanticide.
“This is because the broad phrase ‘perinatal death’ is still in the bill,” he explained, “and the new modifying phrase ‘due to a pregnancy-related cause’ is sufficiently ambiguous.”
According to articles reviewed by AFN, including a fact-check by liberal Politifact, “perinatal” does indeed mean the time period past a newborn’s birth. The fact-checking article cited Merriam-Webster, the National Institute of Mental Health, the United Kingdom National Health Service, and Dictionary.com. The latter definition states that perinatal includes up the “28th day of newborn life.”
The fact-checking article admits the ambiguous definitions are why pro-lifers insist the bill legalizes infanticide, but the article ultimately rules that claim is false based on a bizarre reasoning: Wicks says that isn’t true and she changed the bill’s wording to clarify.
“A judge would use that legislative intent,” Politifact concludes, “to help interpret any ambiguity in the law if it were passed.”
Hence the fact-checking article ruled claims about infanticide are "false."
For her part, Wicks is blaming “anti-abortion activists” for “peddling an absurd and disingenuous argument” the bill allows newborns to be killed.
The truth, the abortion-supporting lawmaker said, is the bill is about “protecting and supporting parents experiencing the grief of pregnancy loss.”
According to The Sacramento Bee article, the Assembly Judiciary Committee analyzed the bill itself and concluded "perinatal death" stretches from 22 to 28 weeks of pregnancy up to seven days after birth.
