Judiciary committee reviews Senate amendment to H.41 to clarify fetal-remains handling under Title 18

The House Judiciary Committee met May 6 and reviewed the Senate’s proposed amendment to H.41, which rewrites subsection B so that violations of the statute addressing abuse of a dead body are applied in a way that preserves Title 18’s treatment of fetal remains and keeps certain disposal violations as civil penalties rather than criminal charges.

Committee counsel and outside witnesses said the change was intended to respond to testimony that similar statutes in other states had been used to prosecute people who experienced miscarriages or stillbirths. Ben Dobrowski of the Office of Legislative Counsel told the panel the Senate wording “isn’t very large, but it’s notable,” and explained the drafting change shifts the focus from enumerated acts to a cross-reference that preserves the Title 18 permit and disposition scheme.

The change replaces a list of prohibited acts tied to “for the purpose of concealing a crime or avoiding apprehension” with language that treats a violation of subsection A (prohibiting…