The Unborn Victims of Violence Act, legislation enacted by Congress only a few days ago, will be signed tomorrow in the Rose Garden at the White House by President George W. Bush.

Brenda D. Fastabend, of Lynchburg, president of Virginia Society for Human Life, and Geline B. Williams, of Richmond, chairman of National Right to Life Committee, will attend the ceremony.

The legislation, also known as “Laci and Connor’s Law,” recognizes the unborn child as a second victim when he or she is injured or killed during the commission of a violent crime.

According to three national public opinion polls, close to 80% of the public agrees that a crime like the killing of Laci and Connor Peterson in California has two victims and should be charged as two homicides. The position of opponents 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.

In a statement issued following Congress’s approval of the Act, 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.”

Mrs. Fastabend noted that, “passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act is an historic landmark in legal protection of the child in utero. While legal abortion is excluded from the legislation, the bill does apply in 68 specific existing federal laws when the child is injured or killed in a violent crime against his mother.”

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