Law would imprison raped women who get an abortion

(Rep. Brown)

A bill introduced in the New Mexico Legislature last week would imprison women who have been raped if they have an abortion.

The reason? The abortion amounts to tampering with evidence.

Forbes.com is reporting that Republican Rep. Cathrynn Brown, author of the legislation, proposes a penalty of up to three years in prison for violators.

The legislation is fairly assured not to become law, according to Forbes’ Rick Ungar, because New Mexico’s state House and Senate are controlled by Democrats. Yet, the myriad of issues such a bill presents is truly extraordinary -- starting with the very notion of an unborn fetus being classified as ‘evidence’.

UPDATE: After a big public backlash, including hate mail, Brown now says that she is "horrified" by the implications of her legislation. A lawyer and a lawmaker, Brown changed the language in the bill:

“A person who commits sexual penetration or incest and who procures an abortion of a fetus resulting from the crime with the intent to destroy evidence of the crime is guilty of tampering with evidence, prohibiting prosecution of the mother of the fetus … In no circumstance shall the mother of the fetus be charged.”

Lorraine Devon Wilke  of addictinginfo.org offers this counterpoint:
"So, in other words, if the rapist sticks around to convince the rape victim to get an abortion, that’s the crime: “tampering with evidence.” But if that’s the case, despite Brown’s insistence that “the mother of the fetus would never be charged,” if the rapee agrees to said abortion (and clearly she’d have to be involved), wouldn’t she be a colluder? An accomplice? Dear God, can you see how complicated this could get?"