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The Unborn Victims Of Violence Act Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
By Colin A. Hanna, For The Bulletin
There is an important legislative anniversary today that could easily be overlooked: the fifth anniversary of the passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, one of the most significant pieces of pro-life legislation to come out of Congress since the Supreme Court’s tragically flawed decision in Roe v. Wade.
It was the result of a five-year effort by the National Right to Life Committee and its allies in the pro-life movement and probably would not have made it through the legislative process without the leadership of former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, both of Pennsylvania. To some degree, their principle stands on behalf of the bill and the victims that it protects may have cost them their seats. They deserve recognition as heroes who were willing to pay the ultimate price for elected officials, namely defeat in the cause of justice.
The bill established for the first time that if a “child in utero” is injured or killed as a consequence of a federal crime of violence against its mother, then the assailant may be charged with a separate offense on behalf of the unborn child in addition to the offenses related to the attack on the mother.
By the time the federal protection was enacted, 29 states had already adopted statutes that permitted state homicide charges to be brought against a party responsible for the death of an unborn child, although with some variations on the applicable stages of development.
The federal law was vigorously opposed by the abortion rights lobby, even though it explicitly provides that it does not apply to any abortion to which the mother has consented, or even to any act of the mother herself, regardless of whether that act was legal or illegal. The philosophical basis for this opposition, given the unambiguous exceptions cited, is suspect at the least and morally bankrupt at the worst. An example of the absurdity of this position is the argument that was offered by some opponents that when a woman is injured in a violent assault that also kills her baby, the woman suffers “a compound injury” but that there is no loss of human life.
An only slightly less offensive argument was contained in an amendment to the Senate bill offered by U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., in which she proposed a new federal crime to be called an “interruption to the normal course of pregnancy,” rather than accepting that it actually amounts to a loss of human life. That amendment failed by the narrowest of margins, 49 to 50.
The margin of victory on final passage in the Senate was 61 to 38, only one more than needed to break the filibuster that surely would have been mounted with fewer Senators in support. It is worth noting that Sen. Arlen Specter voted with Sen. Santorum in favor of the bill.
On the House side, among Members of Congress from The Bulletin’s circulation area, U.S. Reps. Jim Pitts, Jim Gerlach and Curt Weldon were in favor, and U.S. Reps. Robert Brady, Chaka Fattah, James Greenwood and Joseph Hoeffel were opposed. On this fifth anniversary, we should pause to appreciate those who courageously stood on the side of life.
Colin A. Hanna is president of Let Freedom Ring, and he can be reached at Colin@LFRUSA.com.
It was the result of a five-year effort by the National Right to Life Committee and its allies in the pro-life movement and probably would not have made it through the legislative process without the leadership of former U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, both of Pennsylvania. To some degree, their principle stands on behalf of the bill and the victims that it protects may have cost them their seats. They deserve recognition as heroes who were willing to pay the ultimate price for elected officials, namely defeat in the cause of justice.
The bill established for the first time that if a “child in utero” is injured or killed as a consequence of a federal crime of violence against its mother, then the assailant may be charged with a separate offense on behalf of the unborn child in addition to the offenses related to the attack on the mother.
By the time the federal protection was enacted, 29 states had already adopted statutes that permitted state homicide charges to be brought against a party responsible for the death of an unborn child, although with some variations on the applicable stages of development.
The federal law was vigorously opposed by the abortion rights lobby, even though it explicitly provides that it does not apply to any abortion to which the mother has consented, or even to any act of the mother herself, regardless of whether that act was legal or illegal. The philosophical basis for this opposition, given the unambiguous exceptions cited, is suspect at the least and morally bankrupt at the worst. An example of the absurdity of this position is the argument that was offered by some opponents that when a woman is injured in a violent assault that also kills her baby, the woman suffers “a compound injury” but that there is no loss of human life.
An only slightly less offensive argument was contained in an amendment to the Senate bill offered by U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., in which she proposed a new federal crime to be called an “interruption to the normal course of pregnancy,” rather than accepting that it actually amounts to a loss of human life. That amendment failed by the narrowest of margins, 49 to 50.
The margin of victory on final passage in the Senate was 61 to 38, only one more than needed to break the filibuster that surely would have been mounted with fewer Senators in support. It is worth noting that Sen. Arlen Specter voted with Sen. Santorum in favor of the bill.
On the House side, among Members of Congress from The Bulletin’s circulation area, U.S. Reps. Jim Pitts, Jim Gerlach and Curt Weldon were in favor, and U.S. Reps. Robert Brady, Chaka Fattah, James Greenwood and Joseph Hoeffel were opposed. On this fifth anniversary, we should pause to appreciate those who courageously stood on the side of life.
Colin A. Hanna is president of Let Freedom Ring, and he can be reached at Colin@LFRUSA.com.
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