Peterson Case Highlights Need for Unborn Victims Laws
Two leading pro-life groups that handle state legislation say the Peterson case, involving a pregnant woman and her unborn child were killed in a double homicide, highlights the need for laws that protect mothers and unborn babies who are victims of such crimes.
Prosecutors say that Laci and Conner Peterson were killed on or about December 23 or December 24, during the eighth month of pregnancy. The bodies of the two victims were recovered and identified separately last week after washing up on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
“This tragic case dramatically underscores the need for fetal homicide laws,” said Denise M. Burke, staff counsel with Americans United for Life. “Laci Peterson's family suffered the loss of two family members that day, not one. They lost their daughter and their grandson. Thankfully, California recognizes this and provides prosecutors with the tools they need to seek justice for both Laci and Connor.”
Under the 30-year-old California statute, the killing of an unborn child after seven weeks gestation can be charged as murder. In 1994, the California Supreme Court upheld the law against constitutional challenges.
Twenty-six states have enacted laws that recognize unborn victims of at least some violent crime, during some or all of the period of pre-natal development. Two states, Nebraska and Idaho, enacted comprehensive unborn victim laws in 2002. Unfortunately, in some states, laws do not recognize a second victim in a pregnant mother is the victim of an assault. If the unborn child is killed or injured, prosecutors in some states do not have the ability to charge the criminal with two crimes.
“It's time for those states without protection for unborn children and their families to enact fetal homicide laws-laws that surveys show are overwhelmingly supported by the American public,” Burke continued.
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and its state affiliates have been extensively involved in seeking recognition of unborn victims of violence through state-law reforms and through enactment of the proposed federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 146).
“Even though unborn victim laws have had no impact on the legality of abortion, these laws are opposed by many pro-abortion advocacy groups and allied lawmakers,” explains Doug Johnson, NRLC's legislative director.
As in California, numerous federal and state courts have ruled that laws recognizing unborn victims of violent crimes do not violate any provision of the Constitution, and do not conflict with Roe v. Wade or other U.S. Supreme Court rulings mandating legal abortion.
ACTION: Please contact your U.S. senators and urge strong support for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 146). You can find contact information for the senators in your state by clicking here.
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
The Scott Peterson murder case has become a pro-life issue and a great embarrassment to feminist pro-abortion groups like the National Organization of Women (NOW). As California police charged Peterson with two counts of first-degree murder — one for the murder of his wife, Laci, and a second for the death of her eight-month unborn child, networks across the U.S. are referring to the baby — whom the parents had already decided to name “Connor” — as Laci's “unborn child.”
The second murder count is based on a California law that, as in 23 other states, protects “viable fetuses” that are not aborted by their own mother. Commentator Rush Limbaugh pointed out that “What [pro-abortion] liberals would ordinarily call an 'unviable tissue mass' in the womb has been humanized.” So confusing is the issue for feminists that NOW felt obliged to apologize to the family for an outburst earlier this week from its Morris County chapter president, Mavra Stark, who criticized the double-murder charge as dangerous.
Canadian media were quick to point out that a fetus is not a person in Canadian law. Lawyer Morris Manning was quoted saying, “There could potentially be a civil suit against a third party for injuries to a fetus, but there can be no criminal charge. … We [in Canada] consider charges involving the killing of the mother to be sufficient.”
For Canadian coverage click html” target=_blank>here.
For NOW's Mavra Stark's comments and partial apology click here.
(This update courtesy of LifeSite News.)
