Quoted: “Bills such as these are pure inflammatory rhetoric,” said Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of law and bioethics who supports broad access to abortion. “Any baby born alive is granted equal protection of the law from the moment of birth, and thus is covered by child abuse statutes, homicide statutes and any other law that guards children from harm.
“These bills (are offered) merely to create the false impression that abortion providers practice infanticide,” Charo said.
Retired UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs, who specializes in constitutional issues, said he didn’t know whether the proposal includes protections already in state law but said once a baby is born, the state has an interest in providing them.
“Clearly, if you have a baby outside of the womb, that would seem to be a clear case the state has an interest in protecting the rights of the baby,” Downs said. “If indeed this is redundant, then there’s no need for it, but I don’t know what the previous protection is.
“The law protects you when you’re born — you’re a person,” he added.