A new Kansas law and a Florida bill outline policies backed by abortion opponents that critics see as moves toward giving embryos and fetuses the same rights as the women carrying them.
The Kansas Legislature's Republican supermajorities overrode Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto of a bill to require that child support payments cover embryos and fetuses, and to grant an income tax break for a pregnancy or stillbirth. In Florida, lawmakers are advancing a bill that would permit parents to seek civil damages for the wrongful death of an embryo or fetus.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, pro-life activists across the country are pushing measures to enshrine the rights of fetuses, with the ultimate goal of ending abortion nationwide. Lawmakers pitching the proposals describe them as support for new parents or vulnerable families.
“This bill is about being compassionate to pregnant women,” said Kansas Republican state Rep. Susan Humphries of Wichita.
Pregnancy Justice, which advocates for pregnant people, found that as of last year, at least 17 states had laws on the books giving fetuses the rights of people in criminal or civil law. Also, in most states, including Kansas and Florida, a person can face criminal charges for causing the death of a fetus, other than through an abortion.
Georgia and Utah offer income tax breaks for fetuses, and Kansas will soon allow parents to claim an extra dependent child tax deduction on their personal income taxes for the year a child is born and a deduction for a stillbirth.
Also like Georgia, Kansas will start a divorced or single parent's obligation to pay child support “from the date of conception." Its new law takes effect July 1.
“It really is common sense, to provide support for women,” said Republican state Sen. Kellie Warren, a supporter of the Kansas measure.
The Texas Senate approved a child support proposal earlier this month, and lawmakers introduced proposals this year in Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania and Virginia, according to an Associated Press analysis using the bill-tracking software Plural.
The bill advancing in Florida would allow parents to file lawsuits over the wrongful death of a embryo or fetus at any stage of pregnancy, and juries could award monetary damages for the wages a fetus would have earned, according to the bill's sponsor.
The bill has cleared the full House and was approved by its second Senate committee Thursday, though its third and final committee hearing has yet to be scheduled.
Florida is among six states that do not allow lawsuits over the wrongful death of a fetus, according to a legislative analysis. Kansas already has a law like the one Florida is considering.
Critics see both the Kansas and Florida proposals as part of an effort to move from allowing states to ban abortion — as the U.S. Supreme Court did in its 2022 Dobbs decision — to outlawing abortion across the nation as a violation of a fetus' or embryo's constitutional rights.