This is an urgent congressional alert from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C., on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 1019, H.R. 1997), issued Monday, May 12, 2003.

WASHINGTON (May 12, 2003) -- The terrible murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner in California have drawn public attention to a degree beyond any previous unborn victim case. As permitted by California law, local authorities have brought two homicide charges in the case -- which 84% agreed with in a nationwide poll of registered voters (only 7% said a single homicide charge was appropriate).

Yet, if this crime had occurred in any of 24 other states, only a single homicide charge would have been permitted.

Moreover, unborn children currently DO NOT EXIST in the eyes of federal or military criminal law. Thus, if Laci Peterson had been a uniformed member of the U.S. armed forces, murdered on a military base, only a single charge would have been possible. Under current federal law, if criminal who commits a violent federal crime (for example, interstate stalking and assault, or a terrorist bombing) that wounds a pregnant woman and kills her unborn child, he is not charged with any loss of human life.

There is one reason that such injustices continue: Pro-abortion groups such as NARAL have blocked unborn victims laws in many states, and they have blocked the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act since 1999 in the U.S. Senate. (The House passed the bill in 1999 and in 2001, and would readily pass it again.) This bill would allow an appropriate criminal charge to be brought for the harm done to any unborn child during the commission of a violent federal crime.

Now, the U.S. Senate must act.

On May 5, Sharon Rocha, the mother of Laci Peterson and grandmother of Conner Peterson, and five other members of the immediate family, sent a letter to the prime sponsors of the bill, asking Congress to pass it as a "tribute to Laci and Conner . . .in their memory." (See their letter at www.nrlc.org.)

Here's how you can help pass this bill now:

• Please do whatever you can to generate calls, faxes, and e-mails to ALL U.S. senators, urging them to support immediate action to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
  (VSHL Note: See below for how to contact Virginia Senators.)
• Not only pro-life senators, but also senators who support legal abortion, should be urged to support this bill, because: (1) The bill specifically does not affect legal abortion, but only violent federal crimes that injure or kill unborn children; (2) 26 states already have unborn victims laws and they have had no effect on legal abortion; and (3) many state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, have ruled that such laws do not conflict with the Supreme Court decisions requiring legal abortion.
• All senators should be urged to OPPOSE an alternative proposal ("substitute amendment") that will be proposed by opponents of the bill. This hostile amendment would provide an increased ("enhanced") penalty for a federal crime if it interferes with a "pregnancy" -- but without recognizing the unborn child as a legal victim, or allowing any kind of homicide charge on behalf of a murdered unborn child. In their letter to Congress, the family of Laci and Conner wrote: "We have not only lost our future with our daughter and sister, but with our grandson and nephew as well." If senators vote for the "one victim" amendment, they will be saying in effect, "There was no grandson, no nephew, no second body on the beach in California -- because these types of crimes really have only one victim -- the pregnant woman. If she survives the assault, then nobody has really died."
• Send a short letter to the editor of your local newspaper, making the same points. NOTE: It is best to avoid the legalistic term "fetal homicide." The preferred terms are "unborn victims of violence" and "unborn victims laws." The formal name of the bill in Congress is "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act," but at the request of the family of Laci and Conner, it is also now referred to as "Laci and Conner's Law."
• Call the hosts or producers of local talk-radio shows and urge them to schedule interviews or debates on the unborn victims issue. NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC spokespersons are available for interviews or debates on this issue. They should call 202-626-8820 or send e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com.
• Please send any response received from a member of Congress on this issue, or any press report on the position of a member of Congress, to the Federal Legislation Department at NRLC at e-mail address Legfederal@aol.com (preferred), OR by fax to 202-347-3668, or by mail to 512-10th Street, Northwest, Washington, D.C. 20004.

HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR VIRGINIA SENATORS

Senator George Allen is a co-sponsor of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Please thank him for his support. Please urge Senator John Warner to support it.

• PHONE CALLS: Senator Allen can be reached at 202-224-4024; Senator Warner can be reached at 202-224-2023. Other senators can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Once connected, explain that you are a constituent, politely convey your position, and ask for a written response explaining the senator's position.
  
  
• FAXES can be sent to Virginia Senator Allen at 202-224-5432, and Senator Warner at 202-224-2023.
  
  
• E-MAIL can be sent to Virginia Senators using these hot links for Senator George Allen and Senator John Warner. E-mail addresses for other senators are available from the Senate website at www.senate.gov. Be sure to include your regular mailing address in the text of your e-mails, so that the senators know that the message comes from constituents.

Click here to view the NRLC letter to Senators on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

For much more information on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, see the NRLC website section on unborn victims at www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html.

To view or download the latest NRLC ad on the issue, click on the link below (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader):
www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/UVVA%20-%20Dont%20tell%20me.pdf.

To read the letter from the family of Laci and Conner Peterson, urging Congress to enact the bill in order to deter future such crimes and to bring justice when they do occur, click here: www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/laciandconner.html.

VSHL is the Virginia affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee.