Opinion: Fetal homicide charge is needed in Colorado, where the issue has been an intense debate for years.

The crime is almost unspeakable. Shanann Watts and her two daughters — Bella, 3, and Celeste, 4 — were killed and their bodies disposed of at an industrial oil and gas site.

Shanann Watts’ husband and the father of her children has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths.

But adding to the incredible loss for both the victims’ family and the community of Frederick where the family lived is a fourth victim: Shanann Watts’ 15-weekold fetus. For that loss of life, a baby boy expected to be born in about six months, the suspect is facing unlawful termination of pregnancy in the first degree.

That is the right charge in this case where the fetus would not have been viable outside the womb, even with the most advanced medical care.

But that doesn’t mean Colorado lawmakers shouldn’t again revisit the debate over fetal homicide. Colorado doesn’t allow murder charges to be filed unless a fetus has drawn a breath outside the womb. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now draw the distinction between a miscarriage and a stillbirth at 20 weeks of gestation, and a baby is considered full term at most hospitals at 27 weeks gestation.

The lack of a fetal homicide charge has been an intense debate in Colorado for years, coming to a peak in 2015 when Michelle Wilkins was attacked in Longmont and her 7-month-old fetus died after a woman cut the baby out of Wilkins’ womb.

Now state Sen. Lori Saine, a Republican who represents the town of Frederick, has said she will again introduce a fetal homicide bill at the Colorado General Assembly.

If Saine does introduce the bill we hope she will use former Sen- ate President Bill Cadman’s 2015 bill as a starting point and amend it enough to recruit a Democratic sponsor in the House with unimpeachable pro-choice credentials.

Because there is a way that lawmakers can ensure Colorado prosecutors are able to put someone behind bars for life in the killing of a full-term fetus without creating even the slightest possibility that a woman or a doctor would face murder charges for an abortion, or a medical intervention that results in death, or even a miscarriage or stillbirth following an attempted suicide.

The difference between an unlawful termination of pregnancy charge and a homicide charge is a Class 3 felony and a Class 1 felony. The former carries a maximum sentence of up to 32 years with the possibility of parole and the latter carries a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole and can trigger a death penalty case.

In both of these high-profile cases — the terminated pregnancies of Watts and Wilkins — the person charged with the crime also faced or faces additional charges that would mean life behind bars. One can make a strong argument that Colorado’s law is now adequate.

But there have been cases that would test the limits of Colorado’s sentencing ability, including a woman who was 17 weeks pregnant when her boyfriend slipped labor inducing pills into her drink causing her to miscarry. Virginia — like 37 other states according to the National Conference of State Legislators — does have a fetal homicide law. It cannot ever be brought against the mother of the fetus.

Colorado lawmakers should revisit this issue and find the right balance so that the punishment will match the crime in all cases.