President Bush signs Unborn Victims of Violence Act
 (“Laci and Conner’s Law”)
 with Members of Victims’ Families

National Right to Life Comments: “If Kerry were president, today would be a veto ceremony”

WASHINGTON (April 1, 2004) – Surrounded by parents and grandparents of those who died in two-victim crimes, President Bush today signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as “Laci and Conner's Law.”

“As these and the other families understand, any time an expectant mother is a victim of violence, two lives are in the balance, each deserving protection, and each deserving justice,” the President said.  “If the crime is murder and the unborn child’s life ends, justice demands a full accounting under the law.”  (The President's complete remarks are posted on the White House website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040401-3.html

The bill (H.R. 1997) passed the House of Representatives on February 26, 254-163, and the Senate on March 25, 61-38.   The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) was consulted in the drafting of the legislation in 1999, and coordinated the coalition that worked for its enactment. 

“Senator John Kerry voted against Laci and Conner’s Law, and if Kerry were president, today would be a veto ceremony, not a signing ceremony,” said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson.  “Polls show about 80 percent of Americans recognize that crimes like the killing of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, have two victims – but Kerry thinks there is only a single victim.”

President Bush was joined on the stage by six women and men who have lost both their daughters and their unborn grandchildren in violent crimes:  Sharon Rocha and Ron Grantski (victims Laci and Conner); Carol and Buford Lyons (victims Ashley and Landon); Cynthia Warner (victims Heather Fliegelman and Jonah); and Stephanie Alberts (victims Christina and Ashley Nichole).  Also present was Tracy Marciniak Seavers, who survived an assault that killed her unborn son, Zachariah.  These people can be contacted through NRLC at 202-626-8820 or Legfederal@aol.com.  Their stories are posted at  http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/Two_Victims/index.html

Prior to the public ceremony, several of the family members shared with President Bush powerful photographs of their lost loved ones, born and unborn -- photos that also were displayed on the floor of the Senate during the debate on March 25.   These photos are posted on the NRLC website at http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/mediaadvisory032504.html#FAMILY_MEMBERS_SPEAK_OUT

Carol Lyons said at a March 25 Capitol Hill press conference, “I’m appalled that Senator Kerry voted the wrong way.  He’s running for president of the United States, and he doesn’t believe there are two victims. . . . I know my grandbaby was real. . . . I have two victims.”

NRLC has created the most extensive resource center on the Internet on unborn victims of violence, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, and state fetal homicide laws, at http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html

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This is a press release from the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, issued Thursday, April 1, 2004.  For further information on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, call  202-626-8825, send e-mail to Legfederal@aol.com, or visit the NRLC website at http://www.nrlc.org/Unborn_Victims/index.html

Updated on RARTL May 2004