Kalispell legislator dismayed by veto of bill

A Kalispell legislator expressed disappointment Thursday over Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s veto of a bill to protect unborn victims of violence.

State Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, was the chief sponsor of HB 167, which would have criminalized the death of an unborn child.

“It’s too bad that Montana doesn’t value a desired pregnancy,” Regier said.

He noted that if a pregnant woman is assaulted and it causes the death of her unborn child, the perpetrator would just be charged with assault under current law.

The bill would have amended the deliberate homicide statute to include someone purposely causing the death of an unborn child. Penalties for violation of the law would have ranged from 10 years in prison to a death sentence. The bill allowed an exception for those under 18 years of age in the case of a death penalty. Conviction of mitigated deliberate homicide would result in between two and 40 years in prison.

The bill passed the House 70-29 and the Senate 29-21.

In his veto message, Schweitzer said the primary purpose of the bill was to serve a political agenda, not to protect pregnant woman or punish offenders.

He also cited concerns about the invasion of the privacy of the pregnant woman by exposing her medical records in a court proceeding.

“Every bill at the Legislature serves a political agenda,” Regier said, calling this reasoning “groping at straws.”

Regier said that whenever there’s a murder investigation there’s always an invasion of the privacy of murder victims or the perpetrator. “That’s not really a valid reason,” he said.

Schweitzer also referred to other bills that didn’t pass the Legislature that would have enhanced penalties for violence against pregnant women.

HB 167 also was entangled in the abortion debate, Schweitzer said.

Regier noted that the bill had an exclusion for an abortion and only dealt with desired pregnancies.

Kalispell had a recent case that could have included an additional homicide charge had the bill been in place at the time of the crime.

Justine Winter crashed her car into a vehicle driven by Erin Thompson on March 19, 2009. The crash resulted in the death of Thompson, 35, her son Caden Odell, 13, and her unborn child.

Winter was found guilty of two counts of deliberate homicide and is scheduled to be sentenced June 6.

Thirty-eight states currently have fetal homicide laws in place, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner’s Law, was passed in 2004.

Reporter Caleb Soptelean may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at csoptelean@dailyinterlake.com.