ACTION ALERT:

Focus Public Attention on Obstruction of the Unborn Victims Bill in the U.S. Senate!

WASHINGTON (Sept. 6, 2003) - - The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the issue of unborn victims of violence, for the first time ever, in September or October. The outcome remains in doubt, as senators allied with pro-abortion advocacy groups continue to attempt to obstruct the bill. (For details, see the story on page 1 of the August issue of NRL News, posted on the NRLC website at http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/DemsstallUVVA.html.)

All NRLC affiliates and other pro-life groups and citizens should promptly call their senators' offices and urge immediate approval of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, or "Laci and Conner's Law" (S. 1019). All senators' offices can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Appropriate e-mail messages on the bill can be sent for free through the Legislative Action Center at the National Right to Life website at www.nrlc.org.

In addition, pro-life groups and citizens should send letters for publication in local newspapers and websites, and call local radio talk shows, to generate public attention to the continued obstruction of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in the U.S. Senate. Here are some of the key points to get across:

* The issue boils down to this: When a criminal attacks a pregnant woman, injuring or killing her, and also injuring or killing her unborn child - - has he claimed one victim, or two?

* According to a Newsweek poll released on June 1, 84% of the public believe that the killing of the unborn child during a crime should be recognized as a homicide (56% throughout development, another 28% after "viability"), while only 9 percent disagreed. According to a Fox News Channel scientific poll conducted mid-July, 79% of Americans (including 69% of those who call themselves "pro-choice") agree that when "a violent physical attack on a pregnant woman leads to the death of her unborn child . . . prosecutors should be able to charge the attacker with murder for killing the fetus."

* The bill would apply only when an attack on a pregnant woman is conducted in a manner or place that already constitutes a federal crime - - for example, a bombing, an attack on a domestic partner after interstate stalking, or an attack on federal property. All other violent crimes will continue to be governed by state laws - - including state unborn victims laws, where they exist.

* The bill explicitly does not apply to abortion or to legal or illegal acts that a mother commits that affect her own unborn child.

* Surviving family members of unborn victims of violence, such as Sharon Rocha (grandmother of Conner Peterson) and Tracy Marciniak (mother of Zachariah) are imploring Congress to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and to reject the "single-victim substitute" (Feinstein Amendment). In a letter to lawmakers, Rocha said that "adoption of such a single-victim amendment would be a painful blow to those, like me, who are left alive after a two-victim crime, because Congress would be saying that Conner and other innocent unborn victims like him are not really victims - - indeed, that they never really existed at all. But our grandson did live. He had a name, he was loved, and his life was violently taken from him before he ever saw the sun."

* For additional information and documents on unborn victims of violence, visit the NRLC website section on the issue at: http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/index.html.

NRLC Spokespersons Challenge Pro-Abortion Groups on Unborn Victims of Violence

NRLC spokespersons are available for interviews on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, or for broadcast debates with representatives of organizations that are lobbying in support of the single-victim position. If you know of a talk show host or other representative who wishes to schedule such an interview or debate, refer them to NRLC at 202-626-8820 or Legfederal@aol.com.

One such exchange, between NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Gloria Feldt, occurred on the program Which Way, L.A.? on NPR affiliate KCRW-FM in Los Angeles on May 29. Pressed by host Warren Olney, Feldt finally acknowledged that "the victim" (i.e., the only victim) in the Peterson case was Laci Peterson - - not her unborn son Conner. You can listen to audio file of the exchange on the NRLC website (requires free RealPlayer software) at www.nrlc.org.