ACTION ALERT!

Urge U.S. House Members to Approve Unborn Victims of Violence Act!

As reported in the page one story in this edition, Congressman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and NRLC have launched a major new pro-life initiative in Congress ­ the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 2436).

Currently, if a person attacks a pregnant woman who is under the protection of a federal law, and thereby injures or kills her unborn child, the assailant can be charged only with an offense against the woman herself. But if the bill were enacted, the attacker could be charged with two separate offenses ­ one for each victim.

Even though the bill does not restrict abortion, NRLC expects that it will be strongly opposed by major pro-abortion lobbying groups, because it recognizes the unborn child as a member of the human family.

Action Request

Please write to your U.S. Representative - even if he or she is pro-abortion - to urge the lawmaker to support and co-sponsor the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 2436).

While your letter should be in your own words, you may want to make these points:

· It seems obvious that when an unborn baby is injured or killed by an act of violence, there are two victims, the mother and the child. Yet, current federal law does not allow a criminal to be charged for the harm he causes to the unborn child. Enactment of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act is necessary to correct this manifest injustice.

· This particular bill deals with acts of violence other than abortion. Pro-life lawmakers should support it because it will permit justice to be done on behalf of unborn victims. Lawmakers who call themselves "pro-choice" should support the bill because it protects babies who are injured or killed contrary to the choice of their mothers ­ it does not restrict abortion.

· The bill would recognize the unborn child as a protected individual only where federal coverage of the mother already exists. Thus, it does not intrude into areas of criminal law that are currently handled by the states.

The address for all U.S. House members:

House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

· Please send a copy of any response from a lawmaker, or any local press report dealing with a representative's position on this (or other) pro-life issue, to:

NRLC

Federal Legislative Office,

419-Seventh Street, N.W.,

Suite 500

Washington, D.C. 20004

Phone: (202) 626-8820 Fax: (202) 347-3668

E-Mail: Legfederal@aol.com