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: https://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: https://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/statechallenges.html Extensive additional information on the issue of unborn victims of violence, including case histories, is posted here: https://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html The official transcript of Mr. Fleischer’s complete remarks is posted here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/04/20030425-4.html