WASHINGTON (March 26, 2004) -- The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) assailed Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) for his vote against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 1997), which passed the U.S. Senate 61-38 on Thursday, March 25.

The bill, also known as "Laci and Conner's Law," recognizes the unborn child as a second victim when he or she is killed or injured during the commission of a violent federal crime.

"Apparently, John Kerry believes that if a criminal commits a federal crime that injures a pregnant woman and kills her unborn son or daughter, prosecutors should tell the grieving mother that she did not really lose a baby," stated NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.

The Senate defeated, 50-49, a substitute proposal offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), that would have codified the doctrine that when a woman and her unborn child are injured or killed during a federal crime, that crime has only a single victim. Kerry voted for the Feinstein single-victim substitute.

Some other senators -- including Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) -- first voted for the Feinstein single-victim substitute, but after that killer amendment narrowly failed, turned around and voted to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.

"When a criminal attacks a woman who carries an unborn child, he claims two victims -- but Senators Daschle, Specter, and 47 others initially voted for the bill to say there is only one victim in such a crime," said Johnson.

According to three national public opinion polls, about 80% of the public agrees that a crime like the killing of Laci and Conner Peterson in California has two victims and should be charged as two homicides. The position of opponents of the bill that such crimes have only one victim -- the pregnant woman -- is supported by only 7 to 10% of the public in the three polls cited.

Members of families who have lost loved ones -- born and unborn -- in violent crimes, were in Washington this week to urge senators to recognize that these crimes have two victims. These included Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantski, the mother and stepfather of Laci Peterson and grandparents of Conner. The State of California is prosecuting that crime as a double homicide.

The NRLC website contains detailed information on the cases of some of the other victims and family members of victims who were in Washington this week.

In a statement issued after the vote yesterday, President Bush said, "Pregnant women who have been harmed by violence, and their families, know that there are two victims -- the mother and the unborn child -- and both victims should be protected by Federal law. I look forward to signing this important legislation into law."

H.R. 1997 passed the House of Representatives on February 26 by a vote of 254-163.

The NRLC website contains the most extensive resources on unborn victims of violence and fetal homicide laws available anywhere on the Internet, at www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html.

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.