House Judiciary Committee Approves Unborn Victims of Violence Act

By NRLC Federal Legislative Office

WASHINGTON ­ An NRLC-backed bill to protect unborn children from criminal assaults cleared an important legislative hurdle on September 14, winning approval by the House Judiciary Committee.

The panel favorably reported the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (HR 2436) on a 14-11 vote, after rejecting all weakening amendments to the bill. The final vote on the bill was strictly along party lines, with the committee's Republicans supporting the measure and Democrats opposing it.

The bill was introduced by Congressman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), with NRLC backing, on July 1. It has advanced quickly, partly due to strong support from Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Il.) and Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Charles Canady (R-Fl.).

The bill would establish, for purposes of federal criminal law, that unborn children are human beings who can be the victims of federal crimes ­ over and above any harm done to their mothers.

Currently, in an assault in which a mother and unborn child are both harmed, federal law recognizes only the harm to the mother. But under the bill, if an assailant commits a federal crime that injures a woman and kills her unborn child, he could be prosecuted for two crimes: assault on the mother, and manslaughter or murder of the baby. The penalty for the harm to the baby would be the same as for the same harm done to persons already born (except that the death penalty would not apply).

The bill would apply to over 65 existing laws that define federal crimes involving violence. These cover, among other things, violent acts conducted by military personnel or against certain federal employees, or in federal jurisdictions. In addition, Congress has chosen to define certain acts as federal crimes no matter where they occur ­ for example, bank robberies, some drug-related offenses, and certain crimes conducted by persons who cross state lines.

The bill is focused entirely on violent assaults on mother and child by third parties. 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.

NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson characterized the bill as one of the most important measures backed by NRLC in recent years. "Pro-abortion groups hate this bill, because it makes people think about the unborn child," he said.

"The intent of the law is clear ­ separate the fetus from the woman, and attach rights of personhood on the fetus," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Gloria Feldt in a press release opposing the bill.

Congressman Graham's bill would not apply to acts of violence that do not involve federal crimes, but some states have already enacted laws to protect unborn victims.

At a September 14 press conference, Graham and several other House supporters of the federal bill described a recently reported case that occurred in Little Rock, Arkansas. A 23-year-old woman named Shawana Pace, in her ninth month of pregnancy, was choked, kicked, and punched by three assailants, one of whom allegedly told her, "Your baby is dying tonight." Ms. Pace survived with serious injuries, but the unborn baby girl, named Heaven, died in the attack.

Subsequently, police arrested four men ­ the three alleged assailants, and Ms. Pace's former boyfriend, Eric Bullock, the father of the baby. Local authorities charged that Bullock had hired three friends to pose as burglars and to kill the baby because Ms. Pace had refused his pressure to procure an abortion.

All four defendants are being charged with murder under Arkansas' recently enacted Fetal Protection Law.

"The tragic attack in Arkansas points out why we need this protection on the federal level," Congressman Graham said. "If this had happened in commission of a federal crime or in the military justice system, the prosecutor would have been severely limited in the seriousness of the crimes they could charge the defendants."

Graham's bill applies 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."

During the September 14 Judiciary Committee debate, Democratic members of the committee 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 individual. Some opponents even insisted that the bill would be unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade.

But the sponsors of the bill pointed out that courts have upheld state unborn victims laws, on grounds that Roe deals only with abortion.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Ca.) offered a substitute proposal which contained no recognition of the unborn child, instead defining the pregnant woman herself as the victim of a new offense, defined as "causing the interruption of the normal course of the pregnancy or its termination."

Opposing the amendment, Congressman Graham argued that it attempted to deny the obvious reality that in such crimes, the unborn child is a victim. Society has a duty to do justice on behalf of these human victims, he argued.

In the Arkansas case, Graham noted, Shawana Pace said "please don't hurt my baby," not, "Please don't terminate my pregnancy."

All of the panel's pro-life members voted against Lofgren's substitute proposal. So did three pro-abortion members, apparently because they believed that the federal government should not address the issue at all. As a result, in the "pregnancy interruption" amendment was rejected 8-20.

Several other weakening amendments were rejected on party-line votes.

The bill must also be considered by the House Armed Services Committee, because it would amend the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which covers all military personnel. Backers of the bill hope that the Armed Services panel will approve the bill in the near future, so that the bill can reach the House floor before Congress recesses for the year, which could occur in late October.

If the bill does not reach the House floor this year, it will remain alive for consideration during the second session of the 106th Congress, which will begin in January.

The measure has not yet been introduced in the Senate, but several senators have expressed an interest in the measure.

For additional information on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and on state Unborn Victim laws, please see the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org.