History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usJune 20, 2006: Family seeks to criminalize killing fetuses
BY BRENT D. WISTROM
The Wichita Eagle
In the wake of their daughter's death, members of Chelsea Brooks' family hope to change Kansas law.
Kansas is one of 16 states where killing a pregnant woman is no different than murdering someone who is not expecting a child, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
For the past four years, Kansas lawmakers have debated a bill allowing those who take an expectant mother's life to be charged with two murders.
But each time it has failed.
Chelsea Brooks, 14, was 9 months pregnant when she disappeared June 9. Her body was found Thursday.
Results of an autopsy have not been released. But unless it shows Brooks gave birth to a live infant before she was killed, no one will be charged for the death of her unborn child.
Annie Brooks, Chelsea's 17-year-old sister, said the family plans to start a petition supporting a law that would mandate that anyone who kills a pregnant woman be charged in the death of a fetus.
The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that the state's murder laws can be applied only in cases where a child has been born.
The family's efforts may face some of the same opposition as a bill introduced in Topeka earlier this year.
House Bill 2300 would have added unborn children to the Kansas law books, effectively making it a crime to harm them.
A federal law passed in 2004 has the same effect but only applies to federal crimes.
Rep. Steven Brunk, the Bel Aire Republican who sponsored the bill, said he purposely added exceptions for medical procedures, including abortion, to depoliticize the bill.
"It's about justice, not abortion," said Brunk, who has pushed for stricter regulation of abortion.
In March, the bill passed the House 85-38.
But the deadline for the Senate to examine and vote on the bill had passed, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John Vratil said.
Efforts to add it to other bills were unsuccessful, Brunk said, adding that he will try again next year.
Kansas has laws that increase penalties when someone commits a crime that causes a miscarriage, but the law doesn't treat the miscarriage as a murder.
Other states have passed laws that create new crimes - not equivalent to murder - against killing fetuses.
Brunk said he feels fetuses should have the same rights as children already born.
Cheryl Sullenger, chairwoman of Kansans for Truth in Politics, an anti-abo rtion group that blasted Kansas' lack of a law in a statement Monday, agrees. The group hopes to raise the issue before the death of Chelsea's unborn child fades from the public's memory.
Julie Burkhart, executive director of the abortion rights group ProKanDo, feels that is the wrong approach.
"What we should be talking about in this case is violence against women," she said.
"That's what we really have to be looking at."
ProKanDo opposed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act introduced by Brunk. Burkhart said the measure elevates the legal status of the fetus and could jeopardize women's right to an abortion.
She said the proposed law could also be used to penalize pregnant women who injure their fetuses by neglect or other things, like smoking or drinking.
Kansas lawmakers should focus on elevating penalties for crimes against pregnant women instead of separating the fetus from the mother, she said. That type of action has been approved by several states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Burkhart said she believes whoever is responsible for Brooks' death should face the harshest laws on the books.
"Any type of murder is heinous," she said.
Reach Brent D. Wistrom at 316-268-6228 or bwistrom@wichitaeagle.com.
Find more at Kansas.com:
-- Sign and read a guest book.
-- Take our poll: Should state law on the death of an unborn child be changed?
-- Read the 1989 court opinion on fetal death.
THE WICHITA EAGLE
Copyright (c) 2006, The Wichita Eagle & Beacon Publishing Co.