"Noah's Law" Signed by Governor; Recognizes Unborn Victims of Violence

By Liz Townsend

Little Noah never had a chance. A brutal attack on his nine-months-pregnant mother last July at her home in Nampa, Idaho, fractured his skull. Adding to Lisa Smith's grief was the knowledge that her son's killer could only be charged with misdemeanor battery for beating her. Idaho law only recognized one victim of an assault against a mother and her unborn baby.

The story of this stillborn baby inspired the state legislature to pass a bill known as "Noah's Law," which recognizes an unborn baby as the second victim of a crime. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne signed it into law March 27. (The law does not apply to legal abortions.)

Idaho joins 13 states that acknowledge unborn babies at all stages of development as the second victim of a crime, according to Mary Spaulding Balch, NRLC state legislative director. In addition, another 12 states have unborn victims of violence laws that apply to babies at a certain point in pregnancy.

"Idaho is part of a growing trend in state law that recognizes unborn children, mainly because of scientific evidence," Balch told NRL News. "It's really cutting edge, but based on a truth that doesn't change -- unborn babies are human beings too."

The bill "recognizes that there are two victims -- the mother and her child -- when a pregnant woman is assaulted or killed, and her unborn child is harmed or killed as a result," Kerry Uhlenkott, legislative coordinator of Right to Life of Idaho, testified at a state senate hearing on Noah's Law. "This is a common sense and compassionate approach, consistent with the state's responsibility to protect vulnerable human life."

A similar bill became law in Nebraska February 27 when Gov. Mike Johanns signed that state's Homicide of the Unborn Child Act. Nebraska's law covers unborn children at any stage of development who are killed by someone (except in an abortion), not those who are injured.

"This is offering state protection of the unborn child outside the context of abortion," state Sen. Mike Foley told the Lincoln Journal-Star.

"Eventually, we may want to take the next step about injuring, assaulting a fetus that causes damage, but not death."

Several Nebraska families who lost unborn children to violence spoke out in favor of the bill. Barbara LaTurner's daughter and eight-month-old unborn baby died in an car accident caused by an drunk driver, who was not held accountable for baby Zachary's death.

"I'll never forget that defense attorney who said my grandson did not exist," LaTurner told the Journal-Star. "These babies are people and it's about time Nebraska recognizes that."

Idaho legislators heard the heartbreaking story told by Noah's mother, Lisa Smith, who spoke at the senate hearing about her son and his death. She was 16 years old and nine months pregnant when a masked man broke into her home and "kicked, beat, and stomped on her," the Idaho Statesman reported. Rushed to the hospital, doctors quickly delivered Smith's son, but Noah had sustained fatal injuries in the attack.

According to the Statesman, Smith said that she put a diaper on Noah, combed his hair, and swaddled him in a blanket. "In my baby's whole life," she told the senators, "I spent 20 minutes with him."

Smith's mother Kathy, who also testified, insisted that her grandson deserved to be acknowledged by law. "This was a baby," she said, according to the Statesman. "I cut the cord on that second victim and I value his life."

The attacker has not been caught, although suspicion centered on Smith's boyfriend, Romaldo Luis Vela, the Statesman reported. According to the newspaper, Vela received a sentence of 10 years' probation after he pled guilty on sexual abuse charges since Smith was 15 when Noah was conceived.

But prosecutors did not have enough evidence to prove that Vela was involved in the assault. "We made the determination that we couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the assailant," Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne told the Statesman.

Even if such proof is found, the attacker could only be prosecuted for injuring Lisa Smith. Outraged that Noah's killer could not be charged in his death, Sen. Hal Bunderson (R-Meridian) introduced the bill in the state Senate in January. "If we pass this legislation, then Noah will not have died in vain," he told the newspaper.

The bill, numbered SB 1344, adds unborn babies to the definition of human beings in the criminal code covering murder, manslaughter, and aggravated battery, and specifically exempts abortion from its provisions.

Pro-abortion forces immediately expressed their opposition to Bunderson's bill. "The loss of a wanted and planned pregnancy is a tragedy, but solutions should be real, not political," Planned Parenthood of Idaho president Rebecca Poedy told the Statesman.

Pro-abortion senators attempted to nullify the bill by introducing competing legislation that would have merely added an extra penalty to a conviction for an assault on a pregnant woman. Uhlenkott told NRL News that this second bill was introduced and sent to a floor vote very quickly, limiting pro-lifers' ability to make a case against the substitute. The full Senate passed both bills in late February: 28-7 for Noah's Law and 33-2 for the one-victim substitute.

The debate then moved to the House, where Uhlenkott had the opportunity to explain to legislators why the substitute bill was severely flawed.

"In principle, we opposed it because it only covered one victim; it didn't recognize the unborn child as a second victim," she said. "In addition, it was limited to miscarriage and stillbirth -- if the child took just one breath the enhanced penalty could not be used."

"Also, for the enhanced penalty to apply, the offender had to know the woman was pregnant," Uhlenkott added. "It wouldn't cover drunk drivers, terrorists, bank robbers, or anyone who happened to injure an unborn baby during the commission of another crime."

The House Judiciary Committee considered both bills. After a hearing, the committee rejected the one-victim substitute and sent only Noah's Law to the House floor on a 9-4 vote March 5. Noah's Law passed the full House March 11 by a lopsided vote of 60-10.

Smith and her mother are "ecstatic" that they were able to honor Noah and give legal protection to other unborn babies who are injured or killed without their mothers' consent, the Statesman reported. "I promised him I would make it right somehow," Lisa Smith told the newspaper.

"People have an innate sense of what is unjust," said Fr. Dennis Day, NRLC board Treasurer and delegate from Idaho. "When informed of facts, most people of good will will strongly support laws such as Noah's Law. Indeed, little Noah did not die in vain."