THE NATIONAL PETITION TO PASS THE UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT IN THE U.S. SENATE (S. 480)
National Right to Life, the nation's largest pro-life organization, and its affiliate state right to life groups are sponsoring a petition calling on the U.S. Senate to help stop senseless acts of violence against women and unborn children.
On April 26, 2001, the House of Representatives passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Now we must call on the Senate to do the same. Under this bill, if an unborn child is injured or killed during the commission of an already-defined federal crime of violence, that child will be recognized as a victim. Twenty-four states have already enacted laws which recognize unborn children as human victims of violent crimes.
WE NEED YOUR HELP ! ! !
1. Please collect signatures on the petition from your friends, family, and neighbors. Arrange to have petitions signed at your churches, fairs, shopping centers, sporting events, and any meetings where there may be pro-life people.
2. Make as many additional copies of the petition as you think you will need by photocopying. To avoid delay in signing before and after meetings or church services, it is advisable to have an adequate number of petition copies. Use only one side of each sheet. Additional copies may also be ordered free of charge from:
NATIONAL RIGHT TO LIFE, 419 7th Street N.W., Suite 500, Washington, DC 20004. You may also sign the petition online at www.nrlc.org.
3. ADVERTISE the petition by an announcement at meetings, from the pulpit, or in the church bulletin. A bulletin insert can also call attention to the petition. Sample announcement or insert:
PETITION TO PASS THE UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT IN THE U.S. SENATE
You are invited to sign a petition to the U.S. Senate to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 480). Petitions will be located at ( ).
Join with the majority of Americans and speak out against this senseless act of violence against women and unborn children. In current federal criminal law, an unborn child is not recognized as a victim with respect to violent crimes. These crimes against pregnant women are, unfortunately,
happening all too often and the number of incidents is climbing at an alarming rate! Help us speak out against these senseless tragedies and violent acts. SIGN THE PETITION TODAY!
4. Choose a convenient method of gathering signatures. Use a long table or several card tables, or utilize a number of clipboards with petitions and pens on them.
Have an ample supply of pens, not pencils, available for use. The petitions should also be circulated at Church Bible Study or Adult Discussion groups. It would be helpful if one or more dedicated pro-lifers were on hand to assist.
5. Give copies of the petition to anyone who can help gather signatures.
6. Please return the signed petition as soon as possible to the address below.
We Support the Unborn Victims of
Violence Act
Under current federal law, if a
criminal assaults a pregnant woman and kills her unborn baby, he is charged only
with assault, because the unborn baby is not legally recognized as a victim.
Under a bill currently before the U.S. Senate - - the Unborn Victims of Violence
Act (H.R. 503, S. 480) - - any criminal who injures or kills an unborn baby
while committing a federal crime will be charged with two offenses, because he
has claimed two victims. Consider just one true life case:
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| My name is Tracy Marciniak. In this photo, I am holding the body of my dead son, Zachariah, at his funeral. In the ninth month of my pregnancy, I was brutally beaten by a man who knew that I very much wanted my baby. This man punched me very hard twice in the abdomen. Zachariah bled to death within my womb because of blunt- force trauma. My attacker was convicted for the injury he did to me, but not for the death of Zachariah, who was not legally recognized as a crime victim. We need the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, because federal law should recognize what this photograph shows: when a criminal attacks a pregnant woman and injures or kills her unborn baby, he has claimed two victims. |
National Right to Life Committee, Inc.
419 7th Street, N.W., Suite 500
Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 626-8800 ext. 142
Thank you for your efforts!