(The Center Square) – There was emotional testimony on the House floor Wednesday as lawmakers debated and eventually passed a bill that repeals the crime of “concealing a birth” and removes coroner jurisdiction over stillbirths, abortions and premature infant deaths unless other criminal acts are suspected.
Substitute Senate Bill 5093 is titled “An act relating to dignity in pregnancy loss.”
Proponents of the bill argue it protects individuals from criminal charges related to pregnancy loss and promotes dignity in such situations. Opponents argue it weakens legal protections for victims of abuse and trafficking by removing key investigative tools.
SSB 5093 previously passed the Senate and is now on Gov. Bob Ferguson’s desk.
During Wednesday’s lengthy House floor debate, minority Republicans offered several amendments. All were rejected by Democrats.
“This is a controversial bill, and it has to do with what happens when there is a dead baby from a pregnancy that has gone badly,” Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, said.
He continued, in speaking in favor of one of the amendments: “This says local coroners [would] still [have] authority to review what happens when there’s a pregnancy and there’s a dead baby.”
Rep. Debra Entenman, D-Covington, spoke against the amendment.
“I believe the amendment causes confusion in a very difficult time and it asks the coroner to do something I’m really not sure they are equipped to do based on the training and information that they have,” she explained.
Walsh offered a narrower amendment that would allow local authorities to investigate if it appeared the infant was alive at the time of birth and life-saving efforts were not made.
“The proponents contend this bill is about protecting women, but this bill overturns a long-standing law on the books in Washington that makes concealing a pregnancy for the purposes of hiding details of a baby’s death and takes it off the books as a crime,” Walsh told The Center Square Thursday afternoon. “They claim this long-standing law is anti-woman and anti-choice, but this is not true. What this tries to prevent is the abuse of pregnant women and where it has the greatest relevance is the matter of human sex trafficking.”
Wednesday’s back and forth over additional amendments dragged on for more than 90 minutes.
Rep. Brian Burnett, R-Wenatchee, urged House members to support amendments that would hold the perpetrators accountable.
“This is about the traffickers,” said Burnett, the former sheriff of Chelan County. “I’m very familiar with human trafficking and the impacts that it has on the survivors. Some of the survivors that I’ve talked with personally, and I’ve done a lot of this – is that if they have been impregnated by their traffickers or it was caused by their traffickers because of the sexual relationship that goes in trafficking, the victimization can go on for years … this is the world we live in, and we should be doing everything in our power legislatively, public safety-wise, federally, nationally, internationally, locally to put a stop to this.”
Burnett then shared of his own adopted daughter’s experience with human trafficking. As reported by The Center Square, the former sheriff and his wife four years ago rescued Brea Burnett from the streets where she had been sexually trafficked for much of her life.
“She was impregnated many times at a very young age … from miscarriage to forced abortion to delivering some of those premature babies not knowing what happened to them and even later bringing back a different baby and telling her, ‘You will care for it now until we say different.’”
Burnett said those who perpetrate crimes against sex-trafficking victims whom they impregnate should be held accountable, arguing he didn’t understand the motives of the bill’s supporters.
At that point, Rep. Chris Stearns, acting in his capacity as speaker pro tempore, gaveled down Burnett, saying, “The Speaker would ask that the member not impugn the arguments of others.”
A minute later, Burnett concluded.
“I’m no expert when it comes to human trafficking, but I do think I know a lot more than the average person,” he said. “The young woman who gave her testimony at the Governor’s prayer breakfast was my adopted daughter.”
Walsh told The Center Square he questions the motives of the bill’s supporters, suggesting it’s more virtue signaling about abortion rights when that is not at all what the bill accomplishes.
“These are often very young girls who end up pregnant because they are being used as sex objects and the pimps and traffickers abuse them and often beat them up because they got pregnant and cause a miscarriage,” Walsh said. “Sometimes a baby is born and neglected and dies; I mean it’s horrible stuff. The reason the law should stay on the books is it gives prosecutors and cops a tool for investigating these situations where a baby is born and dies and make sure there is no criminality involved.”
Burnett told The Center Square that given the experience of his own adopted daughter, it’s hard to imagine anyone supporting a bill that would not hold traffickers, who often impregnate their victims, accountable.
