This is an update from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON (April 22, 2003) -- In a case that is garnering a great deal of attention from the news media, on April 21 prosecutors in Stanislaus County, California, charged Scott Peterson with the murder of his wife Laci Peterson and their unborn son, Conner.

Prosecutors say that Laci and Conner Peterson were killed on or about December 23 or December 24, during the eighth month of pregnancy. The bodies of the two victims were recovered and identified separately last week after washing up on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

This case is drawing increased attention to the expanding national debate over unborn victims of violence, which is likely to heat up during the current session of Congress.

The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and its affiliates have been extensively involved in seeking recognition of unborn victims of violence through state-law reforms and through enactment of the proposed federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 146), discussed below.

Twenty-six (26) states have enacted laws that recognize unborn victims of at least some violent crime, during some or all of the period of pre-natal development. (As recently as 2002, two states, Nebraska and Idaho, enacted comprehensive unborn victim laws.) A breakdown of the current state unborn victim laws is posted on the NRLC website here: www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/Statehomicidelaws092302.html.

Even though unborn victim laws have had no impact on the legality of abortion, these laws are opposed by many pro-abortion advocacy groups and allied lawmakers. For example, Mavra Stark, president of the Morris County (NJ) chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW), said on April 19, "Was it born, or was it unborn? If it was unborn, then I can't see charging (Peterson) with a double-murder." (Parsippany Daily Record, April 20)

This same ideological mindset has caused groups such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood to oppose the proposed federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act. For example, NARAL says the bill "threatens women's rights." (January 17, 2003, www.naral.org/mediaresources/fact/pdfs/prosecutors.pdf )

However, 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: www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/statechallenges.html.

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act (S. 146), currently under consideration in Congress and endorsed by NRLC, would apply the two-victim principle to FEDERAL crimes of violence. However, the bill would not impose the federal death penalty. The bill does not apply to legal abortion. Extensive information on the federal bill is posted here: www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/index.html.

Some examples of federal cases (including military cases) in which justice could not be done because of the current absence of such a law appear here: www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/UVVAfederalcases.html.

In the current California case, the criminal complaint charges Scott Peterson under California Penal Code Section 187, which states, "Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought." (The California Supreme Court has interpreted the term "fetus" in a highly technical manner, to apply only after seven or eight weeks of development.)

NRLC has also endorsed The Innocent Child Protection Act, legislation which is based on exactly the same principle as the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The Innocent Child Protection Act would forbid the state or federal governments from carrying out a death sentence on a woman while she "carries a child in utero." On July 25, 2000, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Innocent Child Protection Act by a vote of 417-0 (two voting "present"). See www.nrlc.org/Unborn_victims/InnocentChildUVVAparallel.pdf.

The National Right to Life Committee is the nation's major pro-life organization, representing affiliates in all 50 states.

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