SACRAMENTO—A proposed bill that the author said would protect women against criminal prosecution following the death of their baby due to self-induced abortion, miscarriage, or other causes was approved, by a vote of 11–3, by an Assembly committee on April 19.
“As parents experience traumatic situations, they should be supported as they mourn, not criminalized,” said bill author Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) during the Assembly’s Health Committee hearing. “No person should have to endure persecution as they grieve a tragic loss that has happened during their pregnancy.”
The bill, Assembly Bill (AB) 2223, would remove the accountability of a mother responsible for “miscarriage, stillbirth, abortion, or perinatal death” of a baby, according to the bill’s text.