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Information on the
Federal Unborn Victims Law:
National
Right To Life's Unborn Victims of Violence Page
Picture
of Traci Marciniak holding her son Zachariah, who was
killed in utero, at his funeral
Testimony
of Tracy Marciniak.
John
Ensign's Letter On UBVA
Nevada LIFE Testimony
On SB 299:
Nevada
LIFE Testimony On SB 299, The NV Lacy and Connor's Law April 6,
2007.
Nevada
LIFE Supplemental Testimony On SB 299, The NV Lacy and
Connor's Law April 6, 2007.
Nevada LIFE Press
Releases:
One
Victim or Two?
Nevada's Laci and Connor's Law Gets
Hearing Friday,
April 4, 2007.
Nevada
LIFE Press Release on Laci and Connor's Law Feb. 25, 2004
Nevada
LIFE Press Release on Laci and Connor's Law March 18, 2004
Nevada
Unborn Victims Bill Hearing April 6, 2007
SB 299:
Text
of SB 299.
Follow
SB 299
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NV
Unborn Victims of Violence (SB 299) Page
In
2007, the Nevada Legislature considered a bill, SB 299 that
would have made the unborn child a separate victim for crimes
committed against his or her mother. In the end, the
bill was amended several times and ultimately died. But
it raised the questions, “If an unborn child is injured or
killed during an assault against his or her mother, has a
separate crime occurred and what should we charge the assailant
with? And is the unborn child a separate
victim?" If the unborn child dies or is
injured, has anyone died or been injured. The public
says yes by overwhelming margins. Planned Parenthood, the
ACLU, NOW and others say
no. Only "the woman" (not the mother) was a
victim.
Nevada
LIFE President Don Nelson's testimony is self evident:
"We instinctively know the unborn is someone and not
something-a human being whom we love.
And so we name them, read to them and make places for
them in our homes long before they are born."
The
following are some of the press releases, Nevada LIFE updates
and public testimony that Nevada LIFE produced. The
first article is printed in full and frames the debate and explains SB
299. It is followed by links to other articles and
testimony. Please scroll down to see the other links.
Nevada
Unborn
Victims Bill Hearing April 6, 2007
Makes
Unborn A Separate Victim. Would Increase Penalties.
Penalties Should Not Be Different If Committed On Federal
Property Or Across The Street.
In
2003, President Bush signed the Unborn Victims Of Violence
Act, which made injury or death to the unborn child as a
result of an attack on the mother a separate offence and made
the penalty for injury or death to the child the same as if it
happened to the mother throughout pregnancy.
But the bill only covers crimes committed on federal
property.
SB
299 would improve Nevada law (which punishes assailants
who kill unborn children during an attack on pregnant
women-1-10 years in prison and fines of no more than $10,000)
by making it clear that that there are two victims and offenses
and penalties for crimes against violence not only apply
to death or injury to the mother, but they also apply to injury
or death to the unborn child. The bill brings Nevada law more into conformity with the
federal law. Penalties
for harming or killing the unborn should not be different when
committed in a federal building or across the street from one.
Nevada mothers and their unborn children need the added
protections of SB 299. Click
here to follow SB 299.
SB
299 poses the questions, “If an unborn child is injured
or killed during an assault against his or her mother, has a
separate crime occurred and what should we charge the assailant
with? And is the unborn child a separate
victim?"
The
bill says there are two different victims, separate crimes have occurred
and we will use the same laws to prosecute the assailant as we
would for crimes against the mother.
Why
are laws like this necessary?
Because one of the leading causes of death among pregnant
women is murder! Feminists
For Life President Serrin Foster testified to Congress that
according to the “Journal of the American Medical Association,
a Maryland study concluded that, ‘A pregnant or recently
pregnant woman is more likely to be a victim of homicide than to
die of any other cause.’” We needed more protection for
women.
We
need protection for the unborn children too. In Wisconsin Tracy
Marciniak’s baby Zachariah was killed 5 days before his due
date by his father. Marciniak’s
injuries were life threatening from her husband’s beating.
During the three weeks she spent in the hospital, she
almost died. At the
same time she was fighting death, authorities told her that in
the eyes of Wisconsin law, nobody had died when Zachariah was
killed. Zachariah’s dad
was only prosecuted for first-degree reckless injury, and for
false imprisonment, because Wisconsin had no law to charge Tracy’s
attacker for a second crime.
Zachariah died of internal bleeding due to blunt force
beatings by his own father.
There
are far too many stories like this and Marciniak’s
attacker said on television that if he knew he could be charged
for attacking the baby, he’d never had done it.
Unfortunately
the federal law passed by the Congress applies only to crimes
committed on federal property.
State laws are necessary to provide protection for crimes
not committed on federal property.
Nevada’s law provides penalties for killing an unborn
“quick child.” The
penalties are 1-10 years in prison and not more than a $10,000
fine. It’s not
enough.
Senator
Hardy’s SB 299 would change Nevada law to make death or injury
to an unborn child a separate offense and it raises the
penalties for the assailant.
It says,
“… a pregnant woman
and an unborn child she is carrying in the womb constitute
separate and distinct victims for purposes of prosecuting any
criminal offense set forth in the Nevada Revised Statutes
that involves the use of violence.”
This
language is more appropriate because it makes it clear that
there are two victims and penalties for crimes against violence
not only apply to death or injury to the mother, but they
also apply to the perpetrators of injury or violence to the
unborn child whether the child is killed or not.
The
law is also needed to humanize the unborn. What is killed
when and unborn child is killed during a crime of violence
against the mother? This bill says a separate
victim. Exceptions are made for an abortion.
SB
299 would bring Nevada law more into conformity with federal
law. Penalties for
harming or killing an unborn child should not be different when
one is committed in a federal building or when the same crime is
committed across the street. There should be no doubt that the unborn is a someone, not a
something. Nevada mothers and their unborn children need
the added protections of SB
299 .
Nevada LIFE Testimony
On SB 299:
Nevada LIFE Press
Releases:
Nevada
LIFE Updates and Other Articles
SB 299:
Text
of SB 299.
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