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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Victory - NC House Passes Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law

For the first time since 1997, the NC House debated and passed a long sought after piece of pro-life legislation.  The passage of H-215, Ethen's Law, in the NC House is just the first step in having North Carolina join 25 other states and the federal government in recognizing the unborn child as a second victim at any stage of development.  10 other states have partial coverage.


Thursday, March 24, 2011, the NC House passed H-215, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law, on Third Reading 75-34.  13 Democrats and 62 Republicans voted to recognize the unborn child as a second victim when a crime is committed and the unborn child is injured or killed.  To read the bill and see all the votes on the bill, click here.


The bill is now in the Senate Judiciary II Committee where it will be debated. With a favorable report, the bill will then go to the Senate floor.  It will head to the Governor when it passes Third Reading on the Senate side. 


To see which State Senators are sponsors of the Senate version of this bill, click here.  Then, thank your State Senator if he or she is a primary or co sponsor of the bill.  If your State Senator is not a primary or co sponsor of the bill, contact your State Senator to request support for the bill.  You can find out who your State Senator is by clicking here.


Resources:
Press Conference

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Letter Emailed to All NC House Members about UVVA/Ethen's Law-H215

March 23, 2011

Dear Representative:

North Carolina Right to Life (NCRTL) supports the Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law (H215) which will be heard on the House floor tomorrow afternoon. We ask you to support the bill and oppose any amendments to the bill which would weaken or gut it; NCRTL plans to include these votes in its scorecard of votes taken this session.  

We urge you to support the bill because North Carolina is one of only 15 states that currently does not recognize the unborn child as a second victim when the unborn child is injured or killed by an assailant.  The Federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act does recognize the unborn child as a second victim in those parts of North Carolina that are under federal jurisdiction (the Blue Ridge Parkway, military bases, and federal buildings).  Passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law H215 would correct this inequity.

Additionally, the victim's families have petitioned the NC Legislature over the last several years to pass legislation like the bill that will be before you tomorrow.  Effie Steele, the mother of Ebony Robinson and grandmother of Elijah Robinson both killed in 2007, gave an impassioned plea before the Judiciary B Committee for the legislature to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law.  Like other victims' families, she spoke as a grieving mother and grandmother in favor of a state law to acknowledge what her family and the other victims' families know, that there were two human victims, not just one, when her unborn grandson and her daughter were killed. 

Some opponents of the bill have argued that the assailant should have to know the woman to be pregnant in order to be charged for the injury or death of her unborn child.  Court decisions in California and Minnesota have ruled that it is not necessary for the assailant to know the woman to be pregnant in order to charge the assailant with a crime against the unborn child. In writing for the majority in the California case, Justice Janice Rogers Brown wrote: "Had one of Fansler's other children died during defendant's assault, there would be no inquiry into whether defendant knew the child was present for implied malice murder liability to attach.  Similarly, there is no principled basis on which to require defendant to know Fansler was pregnant to justify an implied malice murder conviction as to her fetus.  In battering and shooting Fansler, defendant acted with knowledge of the danger to and conscious disregard for life in general.  That is all that is required for implied malice murder.  He did not need to be specifically aware how many potential victims his conscious disregard for life endangered." 

In its document "Key Facts on the Unborn Victims of Violence Act," National Right to Life wrote the following about the Minnesota case: "As the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in upholding the Minnesota unborn victims law, "The possibility that a female homicide victim of childbearing age may be pregnant is a possibility that an assaulter may not safely exclude." [State v. Merrill, 450 N.W.2d 318 (Minn. 1990)]. To read the entire document of Key Facts, go here.  The majority of these key facts are as germane to the debate which will take place tomorrow on the House floor regarding H215 as they were in the debate about the Federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004.

The majority of citizens support recognizing the unborn child as a second victim. 79% (69% of whom are pro-choice) in a 2003 Fox News poll said that prosecutors should be able to charge an attacker with the murder of an unborn child if the pregnant woman was physically attacked and the attack led to the death of her unborn child.  You can see the complete poll results here. It is noteworthy that these same people do not support our current one victim law, "Injury to a Pregnant Woman," which H-215 repeals.

Finally, the opponents of the bill have offered various types of hypothetical situations in arguing against the bill.  There are 25 states with laws like the one you are being asked to support tomorrow and 10 additional states with partial coverage; none of these states to my knowledge have needed to amend their laws because of any unintended consequences associated with their laws.  

Please support the Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law with your votes on Thursday, March 24.

Respectfully, 
Barbara Holt
President
North Carolina Right to Life, Inc.
POB 9282
Greensboro, NC 27429-0282
336-213-2211 (cell)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Vote on H215 Expected March 23

First Vote on Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law Expected on Wednesday, March 23


Last Wednesday, the House Judiciary B committee heard testimony from various individuals, but none of the testimonies could compare with Effie Steele's impassioned plea for  justice for her 21 year old daughter Ebony Robinson and her unborn son Elijah who were murdered only weeks before Ebony was due to deliver Elijah.

With photos of both Ebony and Elijah in front of her and facing the committee members, Effie pleaded with the committee to recognize that when Elijah died, she lost her only grandson who should have been recognized as a victim just as his mother was by charging the murderer with two murder charges.  She finished her testimony in tears as she begged the members to set aside their abortion biases and recognize that the bill is not about abortion but about charging assailants with two crimes when they kill or injury a mother and her unborn child.

The bill is expected to come up for a vote in the Judiciary Sub Committee B, chaired by Reps. Paul Stam and Sarah Stevens, on Wednesday, March 23, 2011, at 10:00 am in Room 421 of the Legislative Office Building.  It is important for the members of the sub committee, especially the Democrats, to hear from their constituents.

The committee members should be urged to support the bill with their vote in committee as well as on the House floor. To see a list of the members of the committee, click here. By following this link, you can get to the web page for your particular legislator who is on the committee.  Phone calls are preferred to emails.  If you can only send an email, be sure to put Support H215 in the subject line of the email.  

If you live in the districts for Reps. Bordsen (Alamance), Bryant (Halifax and Nash), Glazier (Cumberland), Haire (Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain), Martin (Wake), and Michaux (Durham) and can come to the committee meeting, you should try to be there early enough to introduce yourself to your representative as a constituent who supports recognizing the unborn as a second victim.

H215 recognizes the unborn child as a second victim when the unborn child is injured or dies during the commission of a crime.  Currently, if an unborn child dies or is injured on federal property located in North Carolina, the criminal can be charged for the injury or death of the child; yet, the same person could not be charged for the injury or death of the unborn child if the same crime was committed any where else in North Carolina. 

Passage of H215 will correct this inequity.  The victims’ families are seeking and deserve justice for their families and recognition that two of their family members have been affected when their pregnant daughters and grandchildren have been killed or injured.

North Carolina Right to Life supports the passage of The Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law (UVVA), H215, which is modeled after the Federal UVVA passed in 2004 and signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Other Resources:
 
 

Monday, March 14, 2011



First Hearing on Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law Slated for Wednesday, March 16


North Carolina Right to Life supports the passage of The Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law (UVVA), H215, which is modeled after the Federal UVVA passed in 2004 and signed by President George W. Bush.

The bill will come up for “discussion only” in the Judiciary Sub Committee B, chaired by Reps. Paul Stam and Sarah Stevens, on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 10:00 am in Room 421 of the Legislative Office Building.  It is important for the members of the sub committee, especially the Democrats, to hear from their constituents.

Even though they are not supposed to be voting on Wednesday, the committee members need to hear from constituents urging them to support the bill when it comes up for a vote.  To see a list of the members of the committee, click here. By following this link, you can get to the web page for your particular legislator who is on the committee.  Phone calls are preferred to emails.  If you can only send an email, be sure to put Support H215 in the subject line of the email.

H215 recognizes the unborn child as a second victim when the unborn child is injured or dies during the commission of a crime.  Currently, if an unborn child dies or is injured on federal property located in North Carolina, the criminal can be charged for the injury or death of the child; yet, the same person could not be charged for the injury or death of the unborn child if the same crime was committed any where else in North Carolina. 

Passage of H215 will correct this inequity.  The victims’ families are seeking and deserve justice for their families and recognition that two of their family members have been affected when their pregnant daughters and grandchildren have been killed or injured.

Other Resources:




Thursday, March 3, 2011

Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen's Law introduced in NC House Today

Greensboro, NC – State Representatives Dale Folwell (R-74), Mark Hilton (R-96), Edgar Starnes (R-87), and Fred Steen (R-76) have introduced the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA)/Ethen’s Law.  The UVVA recognizes that when a criminal attacks a pregnant woman, and injures or kills her unborn child, he has claimed two human victims.

Modeled after the federal UVVA which passed Congress April 1, 2004, the bill corrects the inequality of having parts of North Carolina, under federal jurisdiction, recognize the unborn as a second victim while the remainder of the state, not under federal jurisdiction, does not.

Currently, there are 35 states with complete or partial coverage of unborn victims.  If passed as introduced, the UVVA will make North Carolina the 26th state having complete coverage, like Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia.

“The many North Carolina families of unborn victims of violence should not have to wait any longer for North Carolina to recognize that they have lost two, not just one, members of their families,” stated Barbara Holt, President of North Carolina Right to Life. “We urge the legislature to make these families’ wishes a reality by passing the bill quickly.”




ACTION: Contact your State House member to support the bill if his or her name is not listed as a Primary or Co- Sponsor of the bill.  To read the bill, see the list of Primary and Co Sponsors, and find contact information for your State House member, click here. If your State House member is one of the sponsors, please be sure to say thank you.