from: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0427abortion27.html

Laci Peterson killing renews debate on 'unborn victims'

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

Bobbie Flores looks at a makeshift memorial outside the home of Scott and Laci Peterson on Friday.

Judy Holland
Hearst Newspapers
Apr. 27, 2003 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - The apparent murders of Laci Peterson and the son she was carrying in her eighth month of pregnancy have given new impetus in Congress and the White House to make it a crime to kill or injure a fetus, an issue at the heart of the abortion debate.

Peterson disappeared last Christmas, and her body was found earlier this month in San Francisco Bay a mile from that of her fetus, with the umbilical cord still attached. She had planned to name him Connor.

Abortion foes say the Peterson case shows why Congress should pass the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act," which would ensure that perpetrators of crimes against pregnant women were also punished for any harm to their fetuses. The bill, which has been introduced in the Senate and is soon to be in the House, would recognize a fetus as an independent being if killed or injured during the commission of a federal crime.

But advocates of abortion rights warn that the legislation would open the door to classifying an embryo or fetus as a legal person in other contexts and could interfere with a woman's right to abortion.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that Congress should pass the bill.

Related link Annual Modesto vigil honors crime victims "When an unborn child is 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," he said.

Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, a co-sponsor of the measure who plans to push it when Congress returns this week from recess, said the Peterson case has given new momentum to his cause and "really puts the spotlight on the issue."

"Particularly with this horrible tragic case in the news, it reinforces the reality that an unborn child can be the victim of a crime," said DeWine, a former prosecutor. "I think this brings home to people that there is a victim, and it makes it personal when we see this on TV night after night."

Some legal scholars say the fetus should be considered a person because his mother was eight months' pregnant and most babies can survive outside the womb at that point.

Others argue that the fetus wasn't born yet because it hadn't taken a first breath.

New penalties

The legislation pending in Congress would establish new criminal penalties for anyone killing or injuring a fetus during the commission of a federal crime, making that person guilty of a second offense. Federal crimes include those occurring on a military base, Indian reservation or at a post office.

The House passed the bill last year, but the Senate didn't act on it. Because the legislation died when the past Congress ended, new action in both chambers would be required.

'Child in utero'

Abortion rights advocates are upset because the bill refers to a "child in utero," an "unborn child," a "human being" and "a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb." They say those concepts also could lead to protection of the fetus against being aborted.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., a supporter of abortion rights, said it's clear that abortion foes "are trying to establish the fetus as a separate person under the law."

"It has nothing to do with domestic violence or the severity of the crime," Nadler said. "What they want to do under the guise of domestic violence is lay the groundwork for abolishing abortion rights. That is violence against women."

Nadler said abortion foes are seeking to say a fetus is a person within the meaning of the 14th Amendment, which bans any state from depriving "any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law."

"This is a deliberate policy try to establish fetal person-hood because if you can establish a fetus is a person, then the law would mandate that the rights of the person must be protected and abortion is murder," Nadler said.

Nadler says if Republicans were really concerned about domestic violence they should stiffen the penalties for assaulting a pregnant woman, rather than define the fetus as a separate victim.

Twenty-six states, including Arizona and California, where Peterson lived, have their own "unborn victims" laws that recognize an embryo or a fetus as a separate victim. In California, prosecutors have charged Scott Peterson, the victim's husband, with two murders, which would make him eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former Air Force prosecutor who drafted the bill as a House member, said support for the measure is growing in the wake of the Peterson case.

"I think most Americans would agree that whoever killed this lady and her unborn child should be prosecuted for the deaths of both of them," Graham said. "They shouldn't play this game that the unborn child doesn't exist."

Filibuster doubted

Graham said he doubts Senate opponents would dare to block the measure.

"Anybody who wants to filibuster this would get the wrath of the American people on his head," Graham said. "(Most abortion rights supporters) would have no trouble prosecuting the perpetrator twice."

DeWine, arguing for a new federal law, cited a 1996 case at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, in which Airman Gregory Robbins beat his eight-month pregnant wife. She survived but lost the daughter she carried.

The only federal offense Air Force prosecutors could charge Robbins with was assault against his wife. Eventually, they convicted Robbins under Ohio's fetal homicide law.

DeWine noted there would have been no opportunity to prosecute Robbins had the death occurred in one of the 24 states without a fetal homicide law.

Rep. Melissa A. Hart, R-Pa., who shepherded a fetal homicide law through Pennsylvania's Legislature, said she plans to introduce a measure soon in the House.

Hart says the legislation has nothing to do with a woman choosing an abortion.

"It's about a woman who has her choice wrested away from her," Hart said.

Highly publicized news events often trigger legislative action.

Earlier this month, the House and Senate overwhelming approved legislation establishing a nationwide alert system to help rescue abducted children and impose tougher penalties on sexual offenders. The "Amber Alert" system conveys information, via highway signs and radio and TV notices, about suspected child abductions. The system attracted renewed attention after the safe return of abducted Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart.

"It certainly helps to move legislation when something catches the attention of the public," Hart said.

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