Fetal Position

Posted: April 01, 2004

THIS IS all you need to know about the phony, so-called "Laci and Conner's" law passed by the U.S. Senate last week: Scott Peterson, charged in California with the double murder of his wife and unborn child, Laci and Conner, could not have been been prosecuted under it.

That's because the federal law would cover only the injury or murder of a fetus that took place during the commission of a federal crime or on federal property - which means that, realistically speaking, it probably can never be used for its stated purpose.

But, as everyone surely knows, prosecuting the attackers of pregnant women and their unborn children is not the real reason for the law. The real reason is to, once again, take aim at legal abortion.

By separating a fetus from its mother, the law would undermine a tenet of the Roe v. Wade decision, the real target of this legilsation.

Once again, Republicans in Congress distort the facts and exploit tragedies to pursue an anti-choice agenda. They use this tactic because the majority of Americans favor legal abortion. It could backfire if that same majority begins to see that reproductive rights are in more danger now than in quite a long time. *

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