Protecting pregnant women, unborn children
The state House today approved legislation making it illegal to try to force, coerce, or otherwise blackmail a woman into having an abortion.
House Bill 4799, authored by state Rep. Paul Opsommer, was introduced after national headlines highlighted numerous cases of such coercion, ranging from employment threats to physical intimidation.
With some threats escalating to actual violence, the legislation also allows for additional charges against individuals who would use physical harm as an intimidating factor against a woman to terminate a pregnancy, and would also criminalize employers who may threaten a pregnant woman’s job or universities that would withdraw a young woman’s athletic scholarship.
“No woman should be subjected to threats, blackmail, or be fired from a job for refusing to get an abortion,” said Opsommer, R-DeWitt. “This is an area I think we can all agree on, and this important legislation protects the health and safety of both women and unborn children. We can’t allow this kind of intimidation to continue, whether it comes from potential fathers who don’t want to pay for child support, employers who don’t want to accept a pregnancy leave, or university coaches who don’t want to lose a star athlete for the season.”
Opsommer’s legislation is part of a package of bills called the Coercive Abortion Prevention Act. Related legislation provides sentencing guidelines and civil penalties for violating the law, and requires health professionals to screen women seeking an abortion to ensure they aren’t faced with domestic abuse.