This year, one of AUL’s new pieces of model legislation is the “Use of Force to Protect the Unborn” bill – a bill that allows pregnant women to use force, even deadly force, to protect her unborn child.
Across the nation, countless pregnant women are victims of domestic violence. Sometimes, their attacker has one intent in mind – to kill the unborn child she is carrying. In 1999, Jaclyn Kurr suffered a miscarriage after being physically attacked by her boyfriend, Antonio Pena. Jaclyn was more than 16 weeks pregnant with quadruplets when Pena punched her stomach multiple times during an argument. Jaclyn stabbed Pena in defense of her unborn children. Pena subsequently died, and Jaclyn was charged with and found guilty of manslaughter. On appeal, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that Jaclyn, as a pregnant woman, was justified in using deadly force to protect the lives of her unborn children.
However, charges should have never been filed against Jacklyn in the first place. But, due to this area of law being unclear, every pregnant woman who defends her unborn child is at risk of the overreach of an overzealous prosecutor. AUL’s Use of Force bill will help close this loophole.
Oklahoma is the first state to consider this model legislation, and the Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee carried the bill personally. The bill passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 44-0. Here is a copy Senator Coffee’s press release.
The bill now goes to the Oklahoma House for consideration.
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