Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill into law Monday that will increase the penalty for knowingly assaulting a pregnant woman.
House Bill 902 was authored by State Rep. Brooks Landgraf, R-Odessa, and takes effect Sept. 1, 2019.
Currently, the assault of a pregnant woman is treated like any other assault, as a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in county jail, a news release from Landgraf’s office stated.
The legislation makes it a third-degree felony for assaulting a pregnant woman if the person knew the woman was pregnant at the time of the assault. A third-degree felony is punishable by between two and 10 years in prison.
“I want to make sure we create a greater deterrent for assaults of this kind and protect both the pregnant mother and her child,” Landgraf said in the release. “In my view, this new law reflects the fact that this heinous act is a crime against both the mother and her unborn child.”
