A Catholic state legislator in Texas has introduced shocking new legislation that would effectively reduce infanticide to a fineable offense for the first 12 months of a baby’s life. The bill states that if a mother kills her own child within the child’s first 12 months of life due to past partum depression, the murder would be downgraded and punishable by relatively short jail stay and/or a fine.

The bill, according to the House Committee Report, would

amend the Penal Code relating to the punishment stage of a trial in which a defendant is guilty of causing the death of a child; the defendant may raise the issue of impairment under certain conditions. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence, the offense would be punishable as a state jail felony…A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.

So killing a baby in Texas could be punishable by a fine not to exceed $10,000? All the mother has to do is show signs of post-partum depression as the reason for the murder.

Not to belittle post-partum depression which I’ve seen can have terrible effects on women and families but this bill, should it become law, would have disastrous consequences for children.

Here’s the text of the bill which is online here:

(e) At the punishment stage of a trial in which a defendant has been found guilty of causing the death of a child to whom the defendant gave birth within the 12-month period preceding the child’s death, the defendant may raise the issue as to whether the defendant caused the child’s death because the defendant’s judgment was impaired as a result of the effects of giving birth or the effects of lactation following the birth. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence, the offense is a state jail felony.

That takes infanticide out of the realm of murder and into a felony punishable at a lesser punishment of relatively short jail time and a fine.

Who introduced such a bill? Blogger Cassy Fiano writes:

Of course, leave it to a rabid pro-abortionist like Jessica Ferrar to see otherwise. She’s a Texas state representative, recently honored by Planned Parenthood and the proud owner of a 100% NARAL approval rating. She’s currently trying to force through a bill that would make Catholic hospitals be required to dispense the morning-after pill. Her latest bright idea? To decriminalize infanticide. Introducing Texas HB 3318, the first of its kind in the entire country, known as “the infanticide bill”…

This bill was passed by the Texas State Criminal Jurisprudence Committee 7 to 1 on April 28th. It’s currently on the way to the Calendars Committee.

Farrar, who introduced the legislation, writes about the bill here.

This bill must be defeated in Texas because its success will only be copied in other states. Below are the phone numbers of the members of the Calendar Committee, according to Fiano.

Brian McCall-Chair: 512-463-0594
Eddie Lucio-Vice Chair: 512-463-0606
Norma Chavez: 512-463-0622
Garnett Coleman: 512-463-0524
Byron Cook: 512-463-0730
Brandon Creighton: 512-463-0726
Charlie Geren: 512-463-0610
Jim Keffer: 512-463-0656
Lois Kolkhorst: 512-463-0600
Edmund Kuempel: 512-463-0602
Jim McReynolds: 512-463-0490
Alan Ritter: 512-463-0706
Burt Solomons: 512-463-0478