Bill to Criminalize Attacks on Fetuses OKd by House

The House voted Thursday to treat attacks on a pregnant woman as separate crimes against both her and the fetus she is carrying. Critics said it would undermine abortion rights by giving fetuses new federal legal status.

Passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act was actively backed by the White House and President Bush’s conservative supporters. Following enactment of the law banning “partial-birth” abortions last year, the bill is this year’s prime measure dealing with the unborn.

“We must continue to build a culture of life in this country, a compassionate society in which every child is born into a loving family and protected by law,” Bush said after it passed 254-163.

Approval came after the House rejected a Democratic-led alternative that would have increased penalties for attacks on pregnant women in which the fetus was injured or killed without conferring new rights on fetuses.

Backers further highlighted the bill by naming it in honor of Laci and Conner Peterson, the pregnant woman who was killed in December 2002, and her unborn child.

“There are two victims in these kinds of attacks,” said Rep. Melissa A. Hart (R-Pa.), chief sponsor of the legislation. “That is so clear from the Laci and Conner Peterson case.”

Laci’s husband, Scott Peterson, faces double murder charges under California’s unborn victims law. California is one of 29 states that have enacted such laws, and supporters said Congress needed to bring the federal government in line with state laws.

At a news conference after the vote, supporters showed a video in which Laci Peterson’s mother, Sharon Rocha, urges Democratic presidential candidates John F. Kerry and John Edwards, “and every other senator who has refused to support it, to reconsider.”

The measure would be applicable only when federal crimes -- such as terrorism, drug trafficking or offenses on federal land or on military bases -- are committed.

The White House expressed strong support for the legislation and opposed any “one-victim” alternatives such as that offered by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) Her substitute, backed by most Democrats, failed 229-186.

Supporters denied that the bill was about abortion, pointing to language in the bill that specifically protects those carrying out legal abortions from prosecution. But the abortion issue dominated the debate.

“You deny personhood, which is a legal concept, to the unborn,” Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), a strong opponent of abortion, said to critics of the bill. “Here’s an opportunity to not restrict the liberty of a pregnant woman, but to enhance the sanctity of human life.”