Unborn Child Slaying In Arkansas

Source: Family Research Council

- A Rallying Cry for Congress to Provide Justice to Unborn Victims, FRC Says WASHINGTON, -- A case involving the attack on a woman and the death of her unborn child provides the first test of an Arkansas bill, which is similar to a bill scheduled to be considered next week by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. After an attack on August 26, a 29-year old man and three accomplices face the death penalty for allegedly killing his girlfriend's baby, Little Rock police announced Thursday. One of the attackers killed the child by kicking the woman, who was nine months pregnant, in the stomach. The Arkansas law, which took effect last month, allows prosecutors to file murder charges when an unborn child 12 weeks or older dies as a result of a crime against the mother. The bill to be considered by Congress, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 2436), would allow federal prosecutors, in cases where they currently have jurisdiction, to charge offenders with a separate offense on behalf of the unborn child if a violent attack resulted in the injury or death of that child. There is growing public sentiment in favor of the measure. In addition to Arkansas, 24 states have passed fetal homicide measures that provide the unborn child with a similar type of protection. The Unborn Victims of Violence Act would address crimes under federal jurisdiction committed against women, for example: the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building which caused the death of three pregnant women, or the attack on a pregnant woman by an enlisted officer on a military base (United States v. Robbins). "The American people want to protect the unborn child from criminal violence," Janet Parshall, Family Research Council's Chief Spokesperson, said Friday. "The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is not a bill about abortion. Passing this bill will give parents and unborn victims of criminal violence the restitution they deserve. The Arkansas case reveals that those who attack pregnant women sometimes have one goal in mind -- to kill or injure her unborn child. That crime must be accounted for." Arkansas state Rep. Sandra Rodgers (D-Hope), a co-sponsor of the Arkansas bill said, "I've always felt it was kind of appalling that in our state if you kill a cow or if your animals kill a cow and it's pregnant, then you have to make restitution for that unborn calf, but there's never been a law that if someone causes a woman to lose her child, her child is not protected. So we put more emphasis on the life of an unborn calf than the life of an unborn child."