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Press Release Archive
February 25, 2004
Congressman Leads Hour of Floor Speeches on Unborn Victims Act
WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) has been designated by the Republican leadership to host an hour of speeches on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in support of H.R. 1997, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The bill establishes that a criminal can be held accountable for injuring or killing an unborn child while attacking a pregnant woman.
"I am very pleased to have been asked by leadership to host an hour of floor speeches in support of this important piece of legislation.
"Under current law, a criminal who injures or kills a woman's unborn child during the commission of a federal crime is merely guilty of an offense against the mother. The offender cannot be held accountable for a separate crime against the child. In effect the law treats the unborn child as if she were merely tissue in the mother's body.
"This is profoundly unjust. A criminal who injures or kills the unborn not only injures the woman, but also injures or kills a separate human being.
"Currently, an assault on a pregnant woman and the subsequent death of her unborn child can occur without criminal charges being filed against the perpetrator for ending the pre-born life. This is the impetus for passing the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Without enactment of this law, we will never fully be a culture that respects the sanctity of life.
"It is bewildering to me that some opponents of this legislation continue to look into the eyes of victims' families and tell them that they lost only one loved one and not two. Clearly, the families who have lost loved ones due to such heinous violence know that there are in fact two victims. In the quiet of our consciences, so do we all."
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