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April 2001
PRESIDENT
BUSH HELPS DEDICATE NEW
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Fight Moves to House of Representatives
U.S. Senate Passes McCain-Feingold Bill to Restrict Free Speech, 59-41
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Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) |
Sen. John McCain (R-Az.)Sponsor of McCain-Feingold bill |
WASHINGTON (April 4) -
- A bill to place unprecedented restrictions on free speech has been
approved by the U.S. Senate and will be debated this summer in the House
of Representatives.
The McCain-Feingold "campaign finance reform" bill (S. 27)
passed the Senate on April 2 by a vote of 59 to 41.
The bill is sponsored by Senators John McCain (R-Az.) and Russell
Feingold (D-Wi.). It passed over objections from the NRLC, the Christian
Coalition, the Family Research Council, and numerous other organizations
that work to keep citizens informed about what members of Congress are
doing in Washington.
U.S.
House to Vote on Bill to Recognize Unborn Children As Crime Victims
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| MORE ON McCAIN-FEINGOLD - - Pro-life Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Ne.), seen here on the left, debates McCain-Feingold with Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wi.), on NBC's Meet the Press March 25. (See page 33, for Senate roll call vote.) |
WASHINGTON (April 4) -
- The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote April 25 or 26
on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, an NRLC-backed bill that would
legally recognize unborn children as victims when they are injured or
killed during the commission of federal crimes of violence.
Pro-life forces expect a very close vote on a substitute bill, backed by
pro-abortion groups, that would increase punishments for federal crimes
in which a woman's "pregnancy" is interfered with, but which
would also enact into law the doctrine that the pregnant woman is the
only victim in such a crime.
From the President
Wanda Franz, Ph.D. |
ASK YOUR CONGRESSMAN TO VOTE FOR THE UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT
Under current federal law, an
individual who commits a federal crime of violence against a pregnant
woman receives no additional punishment for killing or injuring the
woman's unborn child during the commission of that crime. Therefore,
except in those States that recognize unborn children as victims of such
crimes, injuring or killing an unborn child during commission of a
violent crime has no legal consequence whatsoever.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act was designed to address this
deficiency in the law by providing that an individual who injures or
kills an unborn child during the commission of certain predefined
violent federal crimes may be punished for a separate offense.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act would enable prosecutors to bring to
justice criminals like these: Reginald Anthony Falice, who on April 28,
1998, shot his eight-months-pregnant wife, Ruth Carlson, five times as
she sat at a red light in Charlotte, North Carolina. Falice was
convicted by a federal jury for interstate domestic violence and using a
firearm in the commission of a violent crime, but because federal law
does not currently recognize the unborn as victims, he received no
additional punishment for killing the near-term infant.
Or the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in New York, killing
Monica Smith, a pregnant secretary, and her unborn child. Jurors at one
trial were told of the harm inflicted upon Ms. Smith's unborn child, but
no additional punishment is provided under federal law for the child's
death.
--Former Congressman Charles T.
Canady,
introducing hearings on the proposed law on July 21, 1999
November 2000
