Action Alert!
Urge U.S. House Members to Approve
Unborn Victims of Violence Act!
As reported above,
the House Judiciary Committee has approved a major new pro-life initiative in Congress the
Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 2436). The bill, sponsored by Congressman Lindsey
Graham (R-SC), is strongly backed by NRLC. The full House of Representatives may vote
on the bill by mid-October.
This is the first time that Congress has ever considered such a bill. Pro-abortion groups
have launched a lobbying campaign to stop it. It is essential that all members of the
House hear now from constituents in support of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
Currently, unborn children are not recognized in federal law. Under the bill, however, an
unborn child who is injured or killed during the commission of a federal crime would be
recognized as a human victim, and the assailant could be punished for manslaughter,
murder, or another crime of violence.
Even though the bill deals with acts of violence other than abortion, it has come under
vehement attack from NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and other pro-abortion groups,
because it recognizes the unborn child as a member of the human family. [See August 10 NRL
News, page 1.]
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 some of 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.
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.
Pro-abortion groups are pushing a counterproposal that would merely provide an
"enhanced penalty" for "interruption of the normal course of
pregnancy." However, that would not be a rational or just approach to such crimes.
The attack on the mother is already a criminal act under current law. But when an unborn
child loses her life in a criminal attack, the parents and society mourn the death of a
separate individual, rather than viewing it simply as an injury to the mother. For true
justice to be done in such a case, the government must act on behalf of all victims,
including the child rather than treating the offense as if it were merely a "property
crime" against the mother.
The bill does not intrude into areas of criminal law that are currently handled by the
states. The bill would recognize the unborn child as a protected individual only with
respect to acts that are already defined as federal crimes under current law. The
bill does not override state laws. However, 11 states already have laws that - - like HR
2436 - - recognize the unborn child as a victim of violent crime throughout the period of
pre- natal development.
The address for all U.S. House members:
The Honorable ________________
U.S. House of Representatives
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 any other) pro-life 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