Democrats fought off a Republican-led effort to create a murder charge for the killing of an unborn child during a May 4 House committee hearing, ending a partisan Capitol debate that often centered around abortion.

The Democrat-majority House State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee rejected Senate Bill 268 on a party-line vote. The bill had previously emerged from the Republican-majority Senate, also along party lines.

The measure would have allowed prosecutors to file charges that include murder in cases where pregnant women are attacked.

The bill was a reaction to the March 18 attack on Michelle Wilkins of Longmont, whose 7-month-old fetus died after being cut from her womb.

The bill sought to define an unborn child as a person for the purposes of filing murder or assault charges.

Rep. Polly Lawrence, a Douglas County Republican and bill sponsor, said if a baby dies in the womb, it shouldn’t matter that “this baby hadn’t been held yet.”

“It’s the same little boy or girl before or after he or she is born,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence’s bill was supported by the mother of an El Paso County teenager who was murdered while she was pregnant in 2002. Amanda Hanson was four months pregnant when she was found dead near a trail in Manitou Springs.

Charges were filed for the mother’s murder, but a homicide charge could not be filed for the loss of her child.

“This is gonna happen again and again,” said Erin Hanson. “It’s got to stop. Those unborn babies need to be recognized. Someone needs to stand up for them.”

But bill opponents insisted that the measure would have restricted a woman’s right to have an abortion.

“This is a very dangerous proposition for Colorado women and their health,” said Karen Middleton, executive director for NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado.

Supporters like Middleton have insisted that the bill is similar to failed efforts that have sought to create a personhood statute — an attempt to provide the unborn with constitutional rights. Those efforts have overwhelming been rejected by Colorado voters.

Like personhood, opponents feared that the bill could have led to doctors being charged for performing abortions, as well as the charging of women who choose to end their pregnancies.

But Lawrence insisted that charging would only take place in cases of unwanted terminations of pregnancies.

“These are babies who are wanted by their mothers — Let me reemphasize that: these are babies who are wanted by their mothers,” she said.

Opponents believe the 2013 Crimes Against Women Act — which created a new set of serious offenses in cases where a criminal action results in the termination of a pregnancy — provides prosecutors with significant charging options in cases where a mother loses her baby against her will.

Rep. Mike Foote, D-Lafayette, said it is a “misconception” that there are no laws to deal with crimes like the one that took place in Longmont. Foote was a sponsor of the 2013 legislation.

“It’s a law that was carefully crafted to avoid this very issue, to avoid putting personhood into our law,” Foote said.

As if a hearing having to do with an abortion-related bill wasn’t controversial enough, bill supporters took issue with the decision to limit testimony on the part of the Democratic committee chairwoman.

Rep. Su Ryden, D-Aurora, limited testimony to one minute per witness — she initially set a 30 second limit. The bill was among several others crammed into the committee’s schedule, with just a couple of days left until adjournment.

Ryden said she wanted to hear as many witnesses as possible, in spite of the tight schedule. But Lawrence and other Republicans took issue with that decision.

“I’m so glad we’re having a fair hearing,” Lawrence muttered sarcastically.

— Twitter: @VicVela1