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Photo by Michael Galkovsky
ALBUQUERQUE — The brutal murder of a pregnant Santa Fe teenager has reopened a debate over how to properly punish such crimes. It has also prompted supporters of a “fetal homicide” bill to announce plans to introduce it again in the next session of the New Mexico Legislature.
Women’s rights groups say they’re hesitant to support such a law because it could be used against pregnant women and discourage domestic violence victims from coming forward and seeking help.
Sarah Lovato, the 17-year-old Santa Fe High student whom detectives allege was shot by her 22-year-old boyfriend on May 22, was nine months pregnant. Her father was also killed in the incident.
Santa Fe District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco originally charged the suspect, Marino Leyba Jr., with three counts of murder, but the third count was dropped when it was determined that New Mexico law did not allow for such a charge.
“I was unaware that we didn’t have a law that would protect a baby in the later stages of pregnancy. It’s wrong (not to have such a law),” Santa Fe police Capt. Gary Johnson told the Santa Fe New Mexican. “This is not an issue of pro-choice or pro-life. It’s an issue of protecting a pregnant woman and her child.”
Most crimes of this nature are prosecuted under state law, and according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 36 states have fetal homicide laws (variously known as the Fetal Protection Act, the Preborn Victims of Violence Act and the Unborn Victim of Violence Act). Some laws apply to the killing of a fetus at any time after conception, while others only apply to a fetus that is capable of surviving outside the womb.
In 2005, state Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, introduced The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, but the bill was defeated in committee. The Right to Life Committee of New Mexico and the National Right to Life Committee strongly support such legislation.
But some advocates for women say these laws don’t protect women from violence and that the debate over them distracts from the discussion about effective ways to reduce violence against women.
“What we’ve discovered is that the minute one of these laws passes, the first people who are prosecuted are not batterers, but pregnant women themselves,” says Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, a women’s rights organization that has fought against fetal homicide laws.
“These cases are always presented as a response to violence against women. But not a single state has ever looked at whether these laws have done anything to decrease the epidemic of violence against women. And no state should pass another law like this until that research is done,” Paltrow says.
Paltrow says that similar laws in other states are used to prosecute pregnant women who suffer from substance abuse problems.
In particular, she points to South Carolina, where a fetal homicide law has been used to prosecute dozens of pregnant women struggling with substance abuse. In one case, a 22-year-old homeless woman whose pregnancy resulted in a stillbirth was convicted of murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison, even though health experts said there was no evidence her drug problem caused the stillbirth. If she had instead had an illegal third-trimester abortion, her sentence would have been only two years, Paltrow says.
Lynn Rosenthal, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence says that while fetal homicide laws are well-intentioned, she worries that they may prevent some victims of domestic violence from getting help.
“I am very hesitant about fetal homicide laws, not because I don’t feel just terribly for this family… but when you focus on the pregnancy, do you take the focus away from the steps that could have been taken to save this woman and her pregnancy?” Rosenthal asks.
“I understand the desire to hold a perpetrator accountable, and of course you want the maximum accountability for a crime… but I worry about women being battered during pregnancy and [laws like this] creating an additional fear for them, preventing them from coming forward because they believe they’ll be punished or judged, resulting in women not getting the necessary care.”
“I’m thinking, down the line, of where we go with public policy,” Rosenthal says. “We should be very cautious not to create unintended consequences.”
