---
type: "Bill"
title: "Criminal Law – Crime of Violence Against Pregnant Person – Enhanced Penalty (Laura and Reid’s Law)"
description: "Criminal Law – Crime of Violence Against Pregnant Person – Enhanced Penalty (Laura and Reid’s Law)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/md"
legislature: "Maryland General Assembly"
session: "2019"
identifier: "SB 561"
citation: "Maryland SB 561 (2019)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Criminal Law - Substantive Crimes", "Courts", "Crimes and Punishments", "Manslaughter", "Murder", "Notices", "Penalties and Sentences", "Pregnancy", "State's Attorneys", "Violence", "Women"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Ready"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 25
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2019-02-04"
last_action: "2019-05-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/8787fe36-91fd-4c65-bdf0-b6ea09badfbc"
source_url: "http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frmMain.aspx?id=SB561&stab=01&pid=billpage&tab=subject3&ys=2019rs"
source_hash: "fedc64283511887e10ebf0513ce0de1c4acf326a760ea9f167f06fc37b4c2ab6"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-md"]
---

# Maryland SB 561 (2019) — Criminal Law – Crime of Violence Against Pregnant Person – Enhanced Penalty (Laura and Reid’s Law)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2019RS/bills/sb/sb0561f.pdf)

## Votes

- On Third Reading and Final Passage (CCR Adp) — **135–0** (pass) · lower
- On Third Reading — **136–0** (pass) · lower
- On third reading — **44–0** (pass) · upper
- On Third Reading — **46–1** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Ready — primary (person)
- Carozza — cosponsor (person)
- Eckardt — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-02-04** First Reading Judicial Proceedings `referral-committee`
- **2019-02-06** Hearing 2/22 at 12:00 p.m.
- **2019-03-13** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judicial Proceedings `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-13** Favorable with Amendments {838378/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-03-13** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2019-03-15** Third Reading Passed (46-1) `passage`
- **2019-03-15** First Reading Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-03-15** Hearing 3/26 at 1:00 p.m.
- **2019-04-05** Favorable with Amendments Report by Judiciary `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-06** Favorable with Amendments {332611/1 Report Adopted `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2019-04-06** Second Reading Passed with Amendments
- **2019-04-08** Third Reading Passed with Amendments (136-0) `passage`
- **2019-04-08** Senate Refuses to Concur - House Amendments
- **2019-04-08** Senate Requests House Recede
- **2019-04-08** Conference Committee Appointed
- **2019-04-08** Senators Zirkin, Hough, and Ready
- **2019-04-08** House Refuses to Recede
- **2019-04-08** Conference Committee Appointed
- **2019-04-08** Delegates Clippinger, Atterbeary, and Malone
- **2019-04-08** Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2019-04-08** Third Reading Passed (44-0) `passage`
- **2019-04-08** Conference Committee Report Adopted
- **2019-04-08** Third Reading Passed (135-0) `passage`
- **2019-04-08** Passed Enrolled
- **2019-05-13** Approved by the Governor - Chapter 388 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/8787fe36-91fd-4c65-bdf0-b6ea09badfbc`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Maryland legislature records).