Maryland Bill May Legalize Infanticide

By: John Semmens

Maryland State Senator William Smith (D-Takoma Park) has introduced “the Pregnant Person’s Freedom Act of 2022” (Bill 669). The bill would allow “abortions” to be carried out up to 28 days after birth. Smith described his bill as “a counterweight to other states' laws—like the Texas heartbeat law—that shorten the period in which abortions can be performed. My bill would extended the opportunity for a mother to decide whether her child should live or be left to die of starvation or neglect.”

Smith contested accusations that abandoning infants to die is barbaric by pointing out that “abandoning unwanted infants was a practice employed by the Romans. Their magnificent civilization lasted for a thousand years. It was the antithesis of barbaric. Its advances in engineering, architecture, science, and art under Roman rule were the envy of the world. Who's to say that weeding out the weak, sickly, and handicapped offspring wasn't a vital contributor to its strength?”

American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) attorney Olivia Summers called the proposed legislation “cruel and unnecessary. It's bad enough that Democrats deny the humanity of children still in the womb, but to allow parents to condemn their children to death after birth when there are already options to preserve life by permitting other families to adopt these babies is a crime against humanity. Maryland already has a 'safe haven' law that allows a distressed parent who is unable or unwilling to care for her infant to safely give up custody of the baby, no questions asked.”