Last June, Attorney General Jerry Kilgore called for the enactment of an Unborn Victims of Violence law here in Virginia, in an op-ed article distributed to Virginia newspapers. Now, the Virginia General Assembly will have an opportunity to pass this important legislation.

Currently, a person who attacks a woman and injures or kills her unborn child can only be charged with the crime against the woman. There are, however, two victims of such an attack. An unborn victim law provides penalties for the injury or death of the second victim, the unborn child. Such a law is sometimes referred to as “Conner’s Law” due to the extensive media coverage of the double murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner.

As the General Assembly session starts, no less than eight bills have been introduced in the House of Delegates and one in the Senate, with the possibility of more to come. Although all relate to the unborn child, they vary considerably in the circumstances they cover. For example, while some deal with the intentional killing of the unborn child, others address injury to the mother that results in death or injury to the baby. The House bills have been assigned to the Courts of Justice Committee for consideration; in the Senate, the bills will be taken up by the Education and Health Committee.

In his article last June, Attorney General Kilgore cited two relevant Virginia cases. In 2001, a pregnant woman in Louisa County was killed by a homemade bomb. The father of the unborn baby was convicted on one count of murder. According to prosecutors, he planted the bomb to avoid paying child support. In 1994, Christopher Goins shot and killed the parents and three siblings of his 14-year-old pregnant girlfriend in an effort to prevent the birth of his unborn child. His girlfriend survived but the unborn child was not as fortunate. There were six coffins from this gruesome event, but only five charges of murder were filed. In both these cases, the real target was the unborn child but no charges could be filed for that murder.

Currently, more than half of the states in the country recognize unborn children in some way. Fifteen states have homicide laws that recognize the unborn as victims throughout the entire period of pre-natal development. Thirteen more states recognize unborn children as victims, but unfortunately not for the entire pre-natal period.

It is well established that unborn victim laws do not conflict with the Supreme Court’s abortion decisions. Criminal defendants have brought many legal challenges to other state unborn victim laws, based on Roe v. Wade and other constitutional arguments, but all such challenges have been rejected by state and federal courts.

In spite of this, pro-abortion lawmakers have often tried to substitute a “one-victim” proposal that does not mention the unborn child, but instead increases the penalty for “interruption” of pregnancy (or some such wording). They have an apparent desire to deny the existence of unborn human beings in any area of the law. However, the notion that there is only one victim is false. In the real world, when an unborn child loses her life in a criminal attack, the parents and others mourn the death of a separate individual; they do not see it simply as additional injury to the mother.

Please contact your Delegate and state Senator and urge their support of unborn victim legislation.

How to Contact Your Legislators

• Telephone: 1-800-889-0229 to send a message to delegates or senators.
• General Assembly Web Site: legis.state.va.us has direct phone numbers and email addresses for all legislators. If needed, click on “Who’s My Legislator” to find out who your legislators are.

Published in VSHL Lifesaver, January 2004