Politics
Monday April 28, 2003
PRESIDENT BUSH CALLS FOR PASSAGE OF UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE LEGISLATION
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
WASHINGTON, April 28, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - President Bush is calling for congressional approval this year of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a bill to recognize as legal victims all unborn children who are injured or killed during the commission of federal crimes, the White House said today.
The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) applauded the statement by White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. Mr. Fleischer told reporters, "The President does believe that when an unborn child is injured or killed during the commission of a crime of violence, the law should recognize what most people immediately recognize, and that is that such a crime has two victims."
President Bush calls on Congress to pass the federal bill "this year," Mr. Fleischer said.
NRLC has strongly backed the bill, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 146), which is sponsored by Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and soon to be introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Melissa Hart (R-Pa.). This year's bill is the same as bills that passed the House in 1999 and 2001, which were not acted on by the Senate.
Under the bill, if an unborn child is injured or killed during commission of a federal crime of violence, a second charge could be brought on behalf of the second victim. The bill specifically excludes legal abortions, and it does not allow the death penalty to be imposed for an unborn victim charge.
Twenty-six states currently have laws that recognize unborn victims of violence, including California, where Scott Peterson has been charged with the double murder of his wife Laci and their son Conner. A reporter asked Mr. Fleischer a question inspired by the Peterson case. Mr. Fleischer declined to comment on that specific case, but he spoke clearly to the underlying issue.
The Unborn Victims of Violence Act would apply only to federal crimes, not to crimes of violence covered by state laws. Currently, in federal juridisdictions (including the military), an act of violence that kills an unborn baby but not the mother is treated as a mere assault, not a homicide.
A breakdown of the current state unborn victim laws is posted on the NRLC website here:
http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/Statehomicidelaws092302.html
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. A summary of federal and state court rulings on unborn victim laws (including the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services) are posted here:
http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/statechallenges.html
Extensive additional information on the issue of unborn victims of violence, including case histories, is posted here:
http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html
The official transcript of Mr. Fleischer's complete remarks is posted here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030425-4.html
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.