Urgent Congressional Alert: NRLC Presses Senate to Act Now on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act

WASHINGTON (June 6, 2003) - - The terrible murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner in California have drawn public attention to the issue of unborn victims of violence beyond any previous case.

As permitted by California law, local authorities have brought two homicide charges in the case. A nationwide Newsweek poll released June 1 found that 84% of adult Americans agree that a criminal who kills an unborn child should face a separate homicide charge, including a clear majority - - 56% of adults - - who said that this should apply at any point in the baby's prenatal development. (See story, page 1.)

Yet, if the Peterson crime had occurred in any of 23 other states, only a single homicide charge would have been permitted. The same is currently true for federal crimes: Unborn children who are injured or killed during violent crimes do not exist in the eyes of federal or military criminal law.

Thus, if Laci Peterson had been a uniformed member of the U.S. armed forces, murdered on a military base, only a single charge would have been possible. Under current federal law, if a criminal who commits a violent federal crime (for example, interstate stalking and assault, or a terrorist bombing) that wounds a pregnant woman and kills her unborn child, he is not charged with any loss of human life.

There is only one reason that such injustices continue: Pro-abortion groups such as NARAL have blocked unborn victims laws in many states, and they have blocked the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act since 1999 in the U.S. Senate. (The House passed the bill in 1999 and in 2001, and would readily pass it again.) This bill (S. 1019, H.R. 1997) would allow an appropriate criminal charge to be brought for the harm done to any unborn child during the commission of a violent federal crime. Now, the U.S. Senate must act!

Sharon Rocha, the mother of Laci Peterson and grandmother of Conner Peterson, and five other members of the immediate family, have sent a letter asking Congress to pass the bill as a "tribute to Laci and Conner . . . in their memory." (See their letter at www.nrlc.org.) Now, here's how you can help pass this bill now:

· Please do whatever you can to generate calls, faxes, and e-mails to ALL U.S. senators, urging them to support immediate action to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 1019). You can find guidance on how to contact your Senators on this specific issue by going to the NRLC website at www.nrlc.org and clicking into the Legislative Action Center. Or, call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and ask for your U.S. senators by name or state.

· Not only pro-life senators, but also senators who support legal abortion, should be urged to support this bill, because: (1) The bill specifically does not affect legal abortion, but only violent federal crimes that injure or kill unborn children; (2) 27 states already have unborn victims laws and they have had no effect on legal abortion; and (3) many state and federal courts have ruled that such laws do not conflict with the Supreme Court decisions requiring legal abortion.

· All senators should be urged to OPPOSE the alternative "single victim" ("substitute amendment") that will be proposed by opponents of the unborn victims bill. This hostile amendment would provide an increased ("enhanced") penalty for a federal crime if it interferes with a "pregnancy" - - but without recognizing the unborn child as a legal victim, and without allowing any kind of homicide charge on behalf of a dead unborn child. In their letter to Congress, the family of Laci and Conner wrote: "We have not only lost our future with our daughter and sister, but with our grandson and nephew as well." A senator who votes for the "single victim" amendment will be saying, in effect, "There was no grandson, no nephew, no second body on the beach in California - - because these types of crimes have only one victim - - the pregnant woman. In cases in which she survives the assault, nobody has really died."

· Send a short letter to the editor of your local newspaper, making the same points. NOTE: It is best to avoid the legalistic term "fetal homicide." The preferred terms are "unborn victims of violence," "unborn victims laws," or "prenatal homicide victims." The formal name of the bill in Congress is "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act," but at the request of the family of Laci and Conner, H.R. 1997 now also contains the alternative title of "Laci and Conner's Law."

· Call the hosts or producers of local talk-radio shows and urge them to schedule interviews or debates on the unborn victims issue. NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC spokespersons are available for interviews or debates on this issue. Producers or others should call 202-626-8820 or send e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com.

· Please send any response received from a member of Congress on this issue, or any press report on the position of a member of Congress, to the NRLC Federal Legislation Department at e-mail address Legfederal@aol.com (preferred), or by fax to 202-347-3668, or by mail to 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004.

· For much more information on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, see the NRLC website section on unborn victims at http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html.