Pro-Life Groups Applaud Guilty Verdict in Scott Peterson Murder Trial
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 12, 2004
Redwood City, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life groups on Friday applauded the guilty verdict that convicted Scott Peterson of double murder in the trial over the deaths of his wife and unborn son, Laci and Conner Peterson. The Peterson case and controversy generated additional support for laws that protect pregnant women from acts of violence.
Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family said the Peterson verdict, "is further evidence of the growing shift in U.S. law regarding protection for all human life, including young humans who still reside in their mother's wombs."
California has an unborn victims law that allows prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure an unborn child in the course of an attack against the pregnant mother.
The outcry over the deaths of Laci and Conner also prompted Congress to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner's Law. The measure, which protects mothers and their babies throughout pregnancy, was signed into law by President Bush in April.
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, became a strong advocate for unborn victims laws and lobbied Congress to pass the federal version of it.
Susan Armacost, legislative director of Wisconsin Right to Life, says she can understand why Laci's family so strongly supported the passage of these kind of protective laws.
"In states where the law does not recognize the unborn baby as a second victim of a crime, the family's grief is unnecessarily compounded by the fact that there is no legal recourse for the loss of the baby," Armacost said.
Denise Burke, an attorney with Americans United for Life, said the Peterson verdict underscored the importance of such laws.
"This very public case shows that juries are certainly willing to convict those who kill unborn children," Burke explained. "Fetal homicide laws are important to the social fabric of our society. No one should get away with killing another human being just because they haven't been born yet."
Thirty-one states have some sort of unborn victims laws further protecting violence against pregnant women. Some protect women and unborn children during all nine months of pregnancy, but others don't.
Pro-life groups agreed that the Peterson verdict should hopefully send a message to state legislatures to place such laws on their books or strengthen existing ones.
"Violence against pregnant women and their children is all too common, and we hope that the Peterson jury verdict will send a message affirming a woman's legal right to choose to be pregnant and have her preborn children protected under the law," Focus on the Family's Earll concluded.
Source: http://www.lifenews.com/nat957c.html
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 12, 2004
Redwood City, CA (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life groups on Friday applauded the guilty verdict that convicted Scott Peterson of double murder in the trial over the deaths of his wife and unborn son, Laci and Conner Peterson. The Peterson case and controversy generated additional support for laws that protect pregnant women from acts of violence.
Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family said the Peterson verdict, "is further evidence of the growing shift in U.S. law regarding protection for all human life, including young humans who still reside in their mother's wombs."
California has an unborn victims law that allows prosecutors to charge criminals with two crimes when they kill or injure an unborn child in the course of an attack against the pregnant mother.
The outcry over the deaths of Laci and Conner also prompted Congress to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner's Law. The measure, which protects mothers and their babies throughout pregnancy, was signed into law by President Bush in April.
Sharon Rocha, Laci Peterson's mother, became a strong advocate for unborn victims laws and lobbied Congress to pass the federal version of it.
Susan Armacost, legislative director of Wisconsin Right to Life, says she can understand why Laci's family so strongly supported the passage of these kind of protective laws.
"In states where the law does not recognize the unborn baby as a second victim of a crime, the family's grief is unnecessarily compounded by the fact that there is no legal recourse for the loss of the baby," Armacost said.
Denise Burke, an attorney with Americans United for Life, said the Peterson verdict underscored the importance of such laws.
"This very public case shows that juries are certainly willing to convict those who kill unborn children," Burke explained. "Fetal homicide laws are important to the social fabric of our society. No one should get away with killing another human being just because they haven't been born yet."
Thirty-one states have some sort of unborn victims laws further protecting violence against pregnant women. Some protect women and unborn children during all nine months of pregnancy, but others don't.
Pro-life groups agreed that the Peterson verdict should hopefully send a message to state legislatures to place such laws on their books or strengthen existing ones.
"Violence against pregnant women and their children is all too common, and we hope that the Peterson jury verdict will send a message affirming a woman's legal right to choose to be pregnant and have her preborn children protected under the law," Focus on the Family's Earll concluded.
Source: http://www.lifenews.com/nat957c.html
Will they applaud a death sentence, though? I understand they're trying to get it.
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