Landmark Vote for NRLC-Backed Bill
U.S. House Votes to Recognize
Unborn Children As Crime Victims

WASHINGTON---In a landmark vote, the House of Representatives for the first time has approved legislation to recognize unborn children as crime victims for federal law enforcement purposes.

Despite a veto threat from the Clinton-Gore White House, the House passed the NRLC-backed Unborn Victims of Violence Act (HR 2436) by a vote of 254-172 on September 30.

On the same day, pro-life Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) introduced companion legislation (S. 1673) in the Senate, where it will be considered next year.

Under the bill, if someone injures or kills an unborn child while committing a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman, the assailant will be charged with a separate offense on behalf of the unborn child. Currently, federal criminal law does not recognize injuries to unborn children as crimes.

NRLC was consulted in the drafting of the House bill, which was introduced by Congressman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on July 1.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson heralded the House's approval of the measure, saying, "This bill simply puts federal law behind the commonsense recognition that when a criminal attacks a pregnant woman and injures or kills her unborn child, he has claimed two human victims. But it is shameful that, urged on by the pro-abortion lobby and the Clinton-Gore White House, 172 lawmakers voted to defend the cold-hearted concept that when a criminal injures a pregnant woman and kills her unborn child, nobody has really died."

The bill was approved by the House Judiciary Committee on September 14. (See "House Judiciary Committee Approves Unborn Victims of Violence Act," Sept. 14 NRL News, page 8.) It was also originally referred to the Armed Services Committee, since among other things it would amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But Armed Services Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R- SC) and Military Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Steve Buyer (R- In.), both pro-life, waived jurisdiction over the bill, in order to allow the bill to move more rapidly to the House floor.

Scope of Bill

The bill applies its protections to any "child in utero," defined as "a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." The measure is focused entirely on harm done to unborn children during violent federal crimes. Any abortion to which a woman consents, or any act by the mother herself (legal or illegal) that affects her own unborn child, is not included in the scope of the bill.

Nevertheless, the bill is vehemently opposed by NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and other pro-abortion groupsand by the Clinton-Gore Administration.

A formal "Statement of Administration Policy," read on the House floor during the debate, said that the Clinton-Gore Administration "strongly opposes" the bill and that if "HR 2436 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto it." (The campaign of Republican presidential front-runner pro-life Gov. George W. Bush of Texas told the press that he supports the bill.)

During the House debate on the bill which consumed more than three hours opponents argued that, even though legal abortions are not within the scope of the bill, the bill would undermine legal abortion by recognizing the unborn child as a separate human individual.

Pro-abortion Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said that House approval of the bill would be "taking another little few baby steps" towards undermining Roe v. Wade.

Bill supporters responded that 24 states have already enacted unborn victim laws, and that courts have upheld these laws against all legal challenges, since they do not apply to legal abortions. (The bill does not replace or supersede these state laws, since it would apply only in cases in which an unborn child is harmed during commission of a federal crime.)

Opponents also argued that the bill was "unprecedented" in federal law. The bill "recognizes for the first time under federal law that an embryo or fetus is a person with rights separate and equal to that of a woman," said pro-abortion Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tx.).

Supporters acknowledged that federal criminal law currently does not recognize that an unborn child can be the victim of a violent crimewhich is why the bill is needed. But Rep. Graham called lawmakers' attention to one federal criminal law that does already recognize that the baby is an individual separate from the mother. That law (enacted in 1994) reads, "A sentence of death shall not be carried out upon a woman while she is pregnant."

"Why do we not execute women while they are pregnant, if it is just a mere loss to the woman?" Graham asked. "She is going to lose her life, so why not just go ahead and do it? [Because] federal law understands that we are not going to kill an unborn child because of the crimes of her mother."

Rep. Charles Canady (R-Fl.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution, directed the floor debate in favor of the bill. Responding to those who objected to the bill's use of the term "unborn child," Canady noted that the term "unborn child" appears in many federal and state laws, and has often been used by the U.S. Supreme Court in rulings dealing with abortion and with other subjects.

"The opponents have a great deal, I would suggest, invested in the illusion that the unborn are entirely alien to the human family," Canady observed.

Pro-life House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Tx.) said, "I am proud of telling people that the first time I saw a picture of my baby grandson, Chris, he was only five months old [pre- natal], and when I saw that sonogram I knew he had his grandpa's eyes. Chris was entitled, at the time that picture was taken, to every bit of care he could get through the advances of modern medicine, and he was entitled to every bit of

protection under the law that this Congress can afford him." Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), who has a mixed voting record on abortion-related issues, gave perhaps the most moving speech in favor of the bill. Her voice nearly choking with emotion, Wilson appealed to pro-abortion lawmakers to support the measure.

"You can be the most pro-choice person in this body and vote in favor of this bill with enthusiasm, because it is not about the unwanted pregnancies, it is about the wanted ones," she said. "If someone deprives us of our choice to bring that child into the world, it's wrong and it should be a crime to do so."

House Rejects "One-Victim" Substitute

Bill opponents rallied behind an alternative proposal, the " Motherhood Protection Act," sponsored by pro-abortion Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.). The Lofgren Amendment would provide punishments for causing "an interruption to the normal course of the pregnancy." It would have defined the offense solely as a crime against the mother, with no recognition of the unborn child as a victim.

NRLC strongly opposed the Lofgren Amendment, observing that it " would codify the fiction that when a criminal assailant injures a mother and kills her unborn child, there has been only a compound injury to the mother, but no loss of any human life." Passage of the Lofgren Amendment would be worse than no bill at all, because "it is preferable for Congress to remain silent on the issue, rather than to enact a law that effectively declares that there is no loss of human life when a criminal brutally kills an unborn child," NRLC said in a letter to House members, signed by Johnson and NRLC Policy Analyst Susan Muskett.

Congressman Canady also criticized the "one-victim" approach as illogical.

"Consider this: if an assault is committed upon a Member of Congress and her unborn child subsequently suffers from a disability because of the assault, that injury cannot accurately be described as an abstract injury to a pregnancy," Canady said. " It is an injury to a human being."

The House rejected the Lofgren Amendment by a vote of 224-201, before passing the bill 254-172. Thirty-four (34) lawmakers voted for both proposals, while six voted against both. (See roll calls, page 26.)

Besides those already mentioned, other House members speaking or entering statements in favor of the bill included Spencer Bachus (R-Al.), Ed Bryant (R-Tn.), Steve Buyer (R-In.), Steve Chabot (R- Ohio), Tom Coburn (R-Ok.), Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ralph Hall (D-Tx.), Tony Hall (D-Ohio), James Hansen (R-Utah), Robin Hayes (R-NC), Rick Hill (R-Mt.), John Hostettler (R-In.), Asa Hutchinson (R-Ar.), Henry Hyde (R-Il.), Steve Largent (R-Ok.), Sue Myrick (R-NC), Joseph Pitts (R-Pa.), Jim Ryun (R-Ks.), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Mark Souder (R-In.), Tom Tancredo (R-Co.), David Vitter (R-La.), and Dave Weldon (R-Fl.)

Additional lawmakers speaking or entering statements against the bill included Neil Abercrombie (D-Hi.), Brian Baird (D-Wa.), Tom Campbell (R-Ca.), Peter DeFazio (D-Or.), Diana DeGette (D-Co.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Ct.), Chet Edwards (D-Tx.), Nancy Johnson (R- Ct.), Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Jim McDermott (D- Wa.), Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Ca.), Connie Morella (R- Md.), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Nita Lowey (D-NY), Patsy Mink (D- Hi.), Ron Paul (R-Tx.), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Pete Stark (D- Ca.), Ellen Tauscher (D-Ca.), Mel Watt (D-NC), Anthony Weiner (D- NY), and Lynn Woolsey (D-Ca.).

Reactions to Vote

House approval of the bill was applauded by Helen Alvare, spokeswoman for the Secretariat for Pro-life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. "We are especially gratified that members of Congress were not swayed by the argument that because unborn children are not protected against abortion, they may not be protected from any harm," Alvare said. " This is an unworthy and inhumane line of argument."

Janet Parshall, a spokeswoman for the Family Research Council, called the House vote "a profound moment in pro-life history. The law must account for the grief of parents who have suffered due to the death or injury of their preborn child as a result of violence."

Beverly LaHaye, president of Concerned Women for America, said, " I see this as a monumental step toward recognizing and protecting the lives of unborn babies."

In contrast, the House vote was condemned by the White House and by spokespersons for major pro-abortion groups.

"If they're trying to undermine Roe versus Wade, then we won't stand for that, we'll have to veto the bill," said White House Chief of Staff John Podesta.

"Anti-choice members of Congress should be ashamed of their hideous exploitation of a woman's tragic loss in their relentless pursuit to ban abortion," said Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).

The bill was also attacked by the editorial boards of several major newspapers. For example, an October 2 Washington Post editorial called the bill "a clever, if transparent, effort to establish a foothold in the law for the idea that killing a fetus can be murder."

"Creativity is abundant in the right-to-life movement," the Louisville Courier-Journal observed, in an editorial opposing the bill.

Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) introduced the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in the Senate on September 30, with Senators Michael Enzi (R-Wy.), Jesse Helms (R-NC), Tim Hutchinson (R- Ar.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Don Nickles (R-Ok.) as original co-sponsors. It is S. 1673.

Action Request on Unborn Victims Bill

· Please write to your two U.S. Senators, and ask them to co-sponsor the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 1673), introduced on September 30 by Senator Mike DeWine (R-Ohio). As of September 30, Senators Michael Enzi (R-Wy.), Jesse Helms (R-NC), Tim Hutchinson (R-Ar.), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Don Nickles (R-Ok.) had already co-sponsored the bill.

Tell your senators that the law should recognize that when a criminal injures a pregnant woman and her unborn child, he has claimed two victims, not just one. Urge him to support the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and to oppose the "one-victim" legislation being pushed by opponents of the bill. The address for all U.S. senators is:

Senator ____________
U.S. Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

· You can greatly assist NRLC's lobbying efforts by sending a copy of any response from a senator, and any local press report or editorial dealing with this issue, to:

NRLC
Federal Legislative Office
419-Seventh Street, Northwest
Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20004
Phone: (202) 626-8820 Fax: (202) 347-3668
E-Mail: Legfederal@aol.com

· Send a letter of 250-300 words to the letters column of your local newspaper(s), explaining the bill and encouraging citizens to contact their senators to urge support for the bill.

· For the complete text of the bill as passed by the House of Representatives on Sept. 30, see page 7. For more details on what the bill would do and responses to the arguments against it, see "Key Points on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act" on page 6.

· For further information on these and other federal legislative issues, visit the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org. You can also hear recorded updates on current congressional events by calling the NRLC Federal Legislative Hotline at (202) 393-5433 (393-LIFE).