RHA changed the definition of “person” under New York criminal law. The state is now excluding all unborn children, including viable unborn children or fetuses capable of surviving outside the womb, with or without medical intervention – from the legal definition of “persons.” The plaintiffs argued that unborn children can also become victims of homicide.
New York’s abortion law allegedly “incentivizes deadly violence against women”
In a statement, Atty. Civiletto said, “This new definition is devastating because a criminal assailant can no longer be separately charged for the death of an unborn child, the RHA escalates the threat of harm to women and unborn children and incentivizes deadly violence against women.”
Shed added, “New York has stripped women and their families of their ability to pursue justice for those deaths. That’s outrageous. In fact, it is contrary to the stated policy of the RHA itself: to affirm the “fundamental right [of women] to choose to carry the pregnancy to term, to give birth to a child.”
