He Did Not Die in Vain:
JUSTICE FOR ZACHARIAH!

By Barbara L. Lyons, Wisconsin RTL Executive Director

It was February 8, 1992, when Glenndale Black pulled his 23-year-old pregnant wife down on the sofa by her hair and savagely punched her in the abdomen. Tracy Scheide Black was nine months pregnant and five days from her due date. Black threatened to kill both his wife and child if she reported the beating. He prevented her from seeking medical help for at least 15 minutes until the pain was so severe she screamed out and he relented.

When Tracy was eventually taken to a Milwaukee hospital, doctors found fist marks on her chest and hair missing from her scalp. Even worse, she had complete renal shutdown and there was a possibility she would be placed on a respirator. Her condition was so serious that her family was told she only had 48 hours to live. Miraculously, she survived. But her son, Zachariah, was delivered stillborn, his death a result of the beating administered to his mother, according to the medical examiner.

While Tracy was still hospitalized, her sister Renee called the Wisconsin Right to Life office. The family had learned that Black could not be held responsible for the death of his son because there was no law in Wisconsin covering fetal homicides. Incredulous, they turned to WRL for assistance. And so began the long journey to provide justice for Zachariah, so that his death would not have been in vain.

Tracy Scheide (she now uses her maiden name) was ferocious in her belief that her child's death should not go unnoticed by the law. On her behalf, legislation was immediately introduced which would establish a crime of fetal homicide in the Wisconsin law books.

Despite the heartbreak and anguish at the death of her son, Tracy and her family began a public campaign for the law. Tirelessly, they appeared at press conferences and public hearings, circulated petitions, appeared on national talk shows, and talked with anyone interested in the death of little Zachariah.

Despite enormous public pressure, positive media coverage, the heroic efforts of the Scheide family, and the agitation of several other families who suffered a similar experience, this seemingly non-controversial legislation was not passed into law for six years. Why? It was held hostage by proponents of abortion in each party over a span of four sessions of the legislature. Pro-abortion state Senate committee chairmen in both parties refused to take action on the
various bills. Their reason? Fear that the law would provide some advantage for the pro-life cause, even though these crimes are committed outside the abortion context.In the meantime, knowing that there was no law against fetal homicide he could use to charge Mr. Black, Milwaukee District Attorney E. Michael McCann won approval from the State Supreme Court to try to use portions of Wisconsin's pre-Roe abortion law that would have been constitutional even under Roe in an attempt to convict Black of killing his unborn child. However, the abortion law required proof that Black "intentionally" tried to abort his son. The prosecutor was unable to demonstrate this, so Black was acquitted.

Fortunately, on May 1, 1998, the Senate finally relented. With Tracy Scheide and her children looking on from the gallery, the Senate concurred with previous Assembly action and passed the fetal homicide legislation. The legislation was signed into law by the governor on June 16, 1998.

Tracy Scheide kept alive her belief that she would secure justice for her son through the trial of her ex-husband, a move to another state and back again, and personal joys and tragedies in her young life. The Wisconsin Right to Life staff believed, fought, anguished, and cried with Tracy every step of the way.

On May 3, Tracy wrote to the staff, "There really are no words to describe the joy, happiness and peace I have in my life because of you.... On May 1st, 98 I was finally able to say good-bye to Zachariah and let him rest in peace. I am at peace with myself and feel like a great injustice has been corrected.... It's people like you that help us go on with life and be able to feel joy again."God love you, little Zachariah. You know we do.