“District
law is consistent – consistent in refusing
to protect the right to life of an unborn
child at any moment prior to birth, either
from abortionists or from knife-wielding
home invaders.” – NRLC Legislative
Director Douglas Johnson
WASHINGTON
(March 23, 2012) -- Press reports of a shocking
crime highlight the fact that unborn children in
the nation’s capital currently have absolutely
no legal right to life at any moment prior to
birth.
According to
multiple press reports, an unnamed woman, about
eight months pregnant, was asleep in her
Southeast Washington apartment at about 2:30
a.m. on Thursday, March 22, when an unknown
assailant entered her room and stabbed her in
the abdomen. Taken to a local hospital, a son,
Kuron Rashad Hunt, “was delivered and was later
pronounced dead,” according to a press release
issued by the Metropolitan Police Department.
Kuron’s mother survived. It is unclear from
these reports whether Kuron was born alive,
which apparently will be determined by an
autopsy that will be performed by the Office of
the Chief Medical Examiner.
Douglas
Johnson, legislative director for the National
Right to Life Committee (NRLC), offered the
following comments:
“This case
provides another demonstration that in our
nation’s capital, an unborn child has absolutely
no right to life at any moment prior to birth.
In the eyes of current local law, nobody died in
this crime – not unless prosecutors can prove
that Kuron Rashad Hunt was born alive before he
died. Under current D.C. criminal law, the unborn child
is a complete legal non-entity, even during the
final months of pre-natal development.”
Under the
laws of 36 states – including Virginia and
Maryland – the death of a baby under the
circumstances reported would be regarded as a
homicide, whether or not the baby was born
alive. A 2004 federal law, the
Unborn Victims of Violence Act, incorporates
the same “two victim” principle, but it applies
only to federal crimes.
“The District
has no fetal homicide law because such laws are
vehemently opposed by the pro-abortion lobby,
with which the mayor and District Council are in
lock-step,” Johnson said. “The District has no
fetal homicide law for the same reason that
abortion is allowed for any reason right up to
the moment of birth in the District. District
law is consistent – consistent in refusing to
protect the right to life of an unborn child at
any moment prior to birth, either from
abortionists or from knife-wielding home
invaders. This situation likely will endure
until Congress exercises its constitutional
responsibility to protect innocent human life
within the Federal District.”
One area
abortionist maintains a website on which he
touts his supposed expertise in performing
abortions to about the beginning of the eighth
month -- the same stage of development as Kuron
Rashad Hunt had reached, if press reports are
accurate. Under current District law, there is
nothing to prevent this abortionist or others
from killing such babies up to the moment of
birth.
A bill
introduced in Congress in January, the
District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child
Protection Act (H.R. 3803, S. 2103),
would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks fetal
age (about the beginning of the sixth month),
except when the mother’s life is endangered.
The legislation currently has 154 cosponsors in
the House and six in the Senate. Five states
already have enacted such laws, which are based
on legislative recognition of the capacity of
the unborn child to experience pain by 20 weeks
fetal age.
