House Confers Legal Protection on Fetuses

[Guest Cerebus]

House Confers Legal Protection on Fetuses

By CARL HULSE

 

Published: February 27, 2004

 

 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — The House approved a measure on Thursday that would make it a separate offense to harm the fetus while committing a violent crime against a pregnant woman, overcoming objections that the legislation was intended to undermine abortion rights.

 

With advocates pointing to recent highly publicized criminal cases as a rationale for the measure, House members voted 254 to 163 to approve the bill, which faces a more difficult test in the Senate. The proposal defines the "unborn" victim of a crime as a "member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." It applies only to federal offenses.

 

"Members of Congress do agree that it is important for us to recognize two victims when a crime of violence is committed against a pregnant woman," said Representative Melissa A. Hart, Republican of Pennsylvania, the author of the measure.

 

Opponents said that the legislation was a thinly veiled effort to confer new legal standing on a fetus for future use in court fights over abortion and that there were more effective ways to reduce violence against women.

 

"This is a direct assault on Roe v. Wade, a direct assault on abortion," said Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.

 

An alternative offered by Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California, would have created a second offense punishable by up to life in prison for the interruption or termination of a pregnancy but would not have extended any new status to the fetus. It was defeated by 229 to 186.

 

In the end, 207 Republicans were joined by 47 Democrats in adopting the measure.

 

Backers of the legislation disputed the idea that it was aimed at abortion rights, noting that abortions were specifically allowed under the bill. "This is not an abortion issue," said Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois. "It is a crime issue."

 

The House has passed similar legislation twice before, but it has never reached a vote on the Senate floor. The Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, has indicated that he is ready to move forward with the proposal, but would probably need agreement from the Democratic leadership or face a filibuster. Senate opponents are also prepared to offer an alternative similar to the one defeated in the House.

 

Ms. Hart, the bill's author, said 29 states had enacted laws allowing prosecutors to allege two separate offenses against those charged with violent crimes against pregnant women, and said she hoped the Congressional action would spur more states to do so.

 

Unsurprisingly, the OMGNEWYORKSLIMES doesn't give the name of the law (Unborn Victims of Violence Act) and its website doesn't give a link to the law itself (found here)