Be afraid. Be very afraid.
House Backs 'Unborn Victims' Bill
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday easily approved for the third time legislation that would make killing or harming a "child in utero" a federal crime, hoping the strong 254-163 vote will give the issue momentum in the Senate.
Critics said the bill undermines abortion rights by treating the fetus or embryo as a person, although bill sponsors said they included language that explicitly excludes abortion. for now
The House has passed the bill three times since 1999 but the Senate has not acted. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, predicted the Senate would take up the bill this year, possibly quite quickly.
"It's certainly got strong bipartisan support and you can expect to see it on the Senate floor," he said.
The bill has been nicknamed "Laci and Conner's Law" after Laci Peterson, who was pregnant when she was murdered. Her unborn son was to have been named Conner. Her relatives have actively lobbied for it, adding to the emotion surrounding the legislation.
During the debate House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, invoked the image of slain mother and child watching Congress from a nursery in heaven.
Scott Peterson faces double murder charges in California for the deaths of his wife Laci and Conner.
California law allows a murder charge for Conner, but in some states the death or injury of a fetus would not constitute a separate crime.
The House bill would make killing or harming a fetus or embryo a federal crime at any stage of pregnancy.
"I think the American people want to see justice on behalf of both individuals, the mother and the child," said Rep. Robert Aderholt, an Alabama Republican.
Critics such as New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney said that having the bill apply to even the very first stages of pregnancy, when miscarriages are fairly common, could lead to such troubling situations as coffee shops having to monitor caffeine intake of pregnant woman, or someone with German measles facing possible criminal charges if he showed up at the office and infected a pregnant co-worker.
Mostly Democratic critics say that by treating an embryo or fetus as a person, the legislation undermines or at least complicates abortion rights, although sponsors of the bill disagreed.
Critics of the bill backed a substitute offered by California Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren that would treat a crime against a pregnant woman and her fetus as two crimes, not one, but would stop short of considering the embryo or fetus as a separate person with legal rights. It was defeated by a 228-186 vote.
New York Democrat Rep. Jerrold Nadler said the Lofgren alternative was "just as tough on criminals" without entering the "emotionally charged legal back alleys" of the abortion debate.
According to a National Right to Life Committee survey, 29 states have similar legislation on the books, although 13 of them cover only some portions of pregnancy.
Story by Joanne Kenen
Story Date: 27/2/2004
Reuters News Service 2003
Check out Planet Ark on the web at PlanetArk.com
emphasis mine
