- Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 503, the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act," a bill that considers, for the first time, an "unborn child" - at any stage of pre-natal development - a separate person for purposes of federal law. 172 Representatives recognized this bill as just another attempt to chip away women’s reproductive rights articulated by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. 252 Representatives joined the anti-choice crusade by supporting a bill that creates legal rights for the fetus rather than a bill that seeks to deter criminal conduct against pregnant women. In 1999, the House passed an identical bill by a vote of 254 to 172.
"Today’s close vote demonstrates that many Members of Congress have realized that the real goal of this legislation is not to deter and punish criminal conduct, but to erode the reproductive rights of women," said Monica Hobbs, the Center for Reproductive Rights' Federal Legislative Counsel. "It is essential that the Senate proves its commitment to women’s reproductive rights by opposing this bill and similar pieces of deceptive and misleading anti-choice legislation. President Bush has consistently betrayed those moderates whose votes assured him victory and pandered to the anti-choice few; we must not grant him the opportunity to sign this bill."
By focusing on the creation of legal rights for the "unborn," rather than on whether the bill would actually deter or appropriately punish criminal conduct, the sponsors make clear that they are pushing a political agenda that has nothing to do with violence against pregnant women. By treating the fetus - rather than the woman - as the crime victim, the bill devalues the woman’s loss, and undermines women’s rights. In fact, H.R. 503 would not deter criminal conduct and is merely a part of an anti-abortion crusade to endow Constitutional rights upon an entity of pre-natal development.
By treating the "unborn" as an independent "victim" of crime, this bill would establish new and bad precedent, encouraging the extension of "fetal rights" to other areas of the law. This begins a slippery slope - fully anticipated by the sponsors - that would ultimately lead to full recognition of a zygote, blastocyst, embryo, or fetus as a "person" under the law. The bill directly contradicts Roe v. Wade and undermines the reproductive rights of women. We applaud those Members of Congress that have recognized this fact and have worked to expose the anti-choice sponsors for pushing their real goal of overturning Roe v. Wade.
