There have been a lot of letters lately regarding Senate Bill 268 and state Sen. Ellen Roberts’ support of this bill. I supported SB 268 and applaud Roberts’ ability to understand the difference between fetal homicide and legal abortion.

This bill was not about personhood or overturning Roe vs. Wade but about giving prosecutors the ability to charge someone with murder when they kill a fetus against a women’s will. SB 268 did not stomp on a woman’s rights, it plainly stated, “For purposes of prosecution of a homicide or assault offense, the bill does not apply to; an act committed by the mother of her unborn child; a medical procedure performed by a physician or other licensed medical professional at the request of a mother of her unborn child or the mother’s legal guardian; or the lawful dispensation or administration of lawfully prescribed mediation.” In essence, if the mother didn’t give her consent, then this bill would have applied.

However, because of the fear by those on the left that they might lose a talking point in their main wedge issue, Colorado does not have a fetal homicide bill unlike 38 other states, including California. Never mentioned in the letters is what triggered SB 268, the brutal removal of a seven-month fetus (not a zygote) that died. A seven-month or 28-week-old fetus at the start of the third trimester has a 90 to 95 percent likelihood of survival, has a heartbeat, is opening and closing its eyes and weighs 2 to 4 pounds. So why wasn’t this considered murder?

One thing a 28-week-old fetus does not do is breath on its own. Since it wasn’t known if the baby took a breath after being forcibly removed from the uterus, it could not be determined as a live birth. Therefore, a baby isn’t considered a person in the eyes of the law until it takes a breath. Killing this bill only makes sense to those on the left who do not see an unborn child at 28 weeks as a viable being but incorrectly as a zygote.

Barb Bales

Hesperus