- What Happened: California quietly passed AB 2223 in 2022, a bill that could have shielded anyone from prosecution for the death of a newborn up to 28 days old.
- Why It Matters: Public outrage forced a last-minute amendment, but legal experts say dangerous loopholes still remain in the signed law.
- Bottom Line: Newsom signed it anyway, and babies born alive after botched abortions may still have no legal protection.
California Democrats thought they were slick. They buried a bill called "Reproductive Health" in the 2022 legislative session, slipped in the word "perinatal," and hoped nobody would notice.
People noticed.
Assembly Bill 2223, authored by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and backed by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, originally shielded mothers and their helpers from any civil or criminal liability for "perinatal death." Here's the problem: perinatal includes the period after birth. Depending on the definition used, that window extends up to 28 days post-delivery. Critics were right to sound the alarm. The California Family Council confirmed the original bill "erased the line stopping abortion at birth."
California passed a law that could allow babies to be killed up to 28 days AFTER birth. By using the word “perinatal” (which is the period that includes up to a month after a baby is born) instead of “prenatal” (before birth), the law legalizes infanticide. pic.twitter.com/pGxShF6ud8
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) March 5, 2026
When thousands of pro-lifers descended on Sacramento in April 2022, lawmakers panicked and amended the language to read "perinatal death due to causes that occurred in utero." Crisis averted? Not quite.
The ACLJ sent a letter to Newsom warning him to veto the bill. Their legal team pointed out that "causes that occurred in utero" has no legal definition anywhere in U.S. law. None. That means anyone could claim a dead newborn's death was caused by something in the womb, and under AB 2223, law enforcement would be blocked from investigating to prove otherwise.
The California Family Council put it plainly: the bill still protects those who cause a baby's death through a botched abortion, illegal drug use, or physical abuse, as long as the injury can be traced back to the womb.
Newsom signed it anyway. September 27, 2022. No fanfare. No press conference.
California didn't just try to legalize infanticide. They tried to make it un-investigable.