SEC. 97-3-37. Homicide; killing of an unborn quick child; intentional injury to pregnant woman; penalties; provisions of section not applicable to legal medical procedures, including abortion.

(1) The willful killing of an unborn quick child, by an injury to the mother of such child, which would be murder if it resulted in the death of the mother, shall be manslaughter.

(2) Any death of an unborn child of twenty (20) weeks or more gestational age, resulting from the use by the mother of any illegal controlled substance during the mother's pregnancy with the child in question, shall be manslaughter to be charged against the mother. Any suspected such death shall be reported promptly to the County Medical Examiner Investigator, who shall cause an autopsy to be performed by a state-designated pathologist to determine the cause and manner of death.

SOURCES: Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 64, art. 12, Title 3 (8); 1857, ch. 64, art. 172; 1871, Sec. 2635; 1880, Sec. 2883; 1892, Sec. 1156; 1906, Sec. 1234; Hemingway's 1917, Sec. 964; 1930, Sec. 992; 1942, Sec. 2222. Amended by Laws 2000, Ch. 337, Sec. 1, SB2314, eff. July 1, 2000.

PREVIOUS VERSIONS: Pre-2000