MONTPELIER – Proposed legislation that would stiffen criminal sanctions for the negligent or intentional killing of an unborn fetus is too divisive for consideration in the 2010 session, according to a Senate lawmaker who has decided to put aside the bill this year.

Sen. Richard Sears, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday he won't take up bills drafted at the behest of Patricia Blair, a Bennington County woman whose twin fetuses were killed in a car accident last summer. While the issue deserves legislative attention, Sears said Tuesday, lawmakers were unable to find the consensus necessary for a thoughtful debate on the measure.

"Without that consensus it's extremely hard to deal with emotional issues like this," Sears said. "And I just don't think we'd be able to have a productive conversation given some of the division this issue has encountered."

Three bills circulating in the Statehouse would establish harsher prison sentences for people convicted of a crime that involved the death of a fetus; however, they accomplish that goal in very different ways.

Sears introduced a bill calling for heightened sanctions for crimes against pregnant women – a measure that would make for potentially longer sentences without delving into the controversial issue of "fetal personhood." Two other bills – nearly identical versions exist in the House and Senate – would go a step further, creating sanctions for the killing of an actual fetus and, in the process, set a new legal precedent that was especially of concern to abortion-rights groups.

Sears said he was eager to consider his own bill.

"If I could vote for it tomorrow, I would," Sears said.

But it was clear, he said, that Blair, and her growing ranks of supporters, wanted the more controversial language in the other bill. Strong advocacy for the legislation from pro-life contingents, Sears said, convinced him that committee discussion would devolve into a moral and religious debate over the merits of Roe. v. Wade.

"The consensus that I had hoped would develop has not materialized," Sears said. "If anything, some of the rhetoric has, in my view, made any reasonable attempt at compromise more difficult, if not impossible."

Sears referred to a Web site, created by the Rev. Craig Benson – who galvanized opposition to last year's same-sex marriage bill – as an example of that "rhetoric." The site, benningtonbabies.com, features a picture of Blair in a hospital bed holding the twin fetuses that perished in the Aug. 10 crash. A summary of the bills contained on the site says that Sears' bill will send a message to Vermont mothers who lose their "unborn children" that "their children's lives did not count."

Blair said she's "disappointed" in Sears' decision but that she will continue her advocacy on her twins' behalf.

"I plan on sticking around and making this work in one way or another," she said.

Blair characterized her effort as a women's rights movement, not a sidestep into an abortion debate.

"This is all about women's choice," she said. "Women who choose to have their babies need to have this kind of support in place."

Benson said he believes that Sears' decision was less about policy judgment than it was about not wanting to roil political waters for Democratic leaders in the House and Senate. "I think Sen. Sears' choice kind of expresses the wish of the House and Senate leadership not to have any hot social issues floating around during an election year," Benson said. "Unfortunately it means the Blair family … and other families that experience this type of loss will not be getting justice this year from the leadership of our Legislature."

Sears said he got no pressure from Senate leadership to squelch the legislation. Between now and next year, he said, he hopes vested parties can work together to fashion a more workable proposal.

Benson said the decision to table the bill will only energize its supporters. Though a House bill exists, it is exceedingly unlikely that leaders there would take up the measure this year.

"This is an awareness issue and it has tremendous appeal at the grassroots level," he said.

"Petitions are starting to get going, and if nothing else happens by the time the next legislative session rolls in, tens of thousands of signatures are going to come rolling in saying 'do something about this.'"