Four years of persistence has paid off, said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP). The legislation calling for recognition of unborn victims passed the Legislature April 4.
“It was unanimous in the Senate and came right out,” Ireland said. “It moved very smoothly with no opposition. This is the end of a four-year battle.”
The new law, which is awaiting the signature of Gov. Bob Riley, allows for an unborn child to be considered a victim if the pregnant mother is assaulted or killed.
If a pregnant woman is murdered, then the murderer would be charged with double murder, Ireland explained.
This legislation gained public attention following the 2002 murder of California’s Laci Peterson, who was eight-months pregnant with her son, Connor.
Federal legislation making it a separate crime to kill or harm an unborn child during an assault on the mother had been stuck in the U.S. Congress for three years prior to Peterson’s death.
But in 2004, Congress passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act and labeled it Laci and Connor’s Law.
In Alabama, Rep. Spencer Collier, R-Mobile, has been submitting his legislation on unborn victims since 2003.
The bill passed the House of Representatives unanimously early in the session for the past two years. But it never moved in the Senate in 2005 and was feared to face the same fate this year before things turned around March 30.
Opponents of the bill expressed concerns about wording and worked with supporters of the bill on a compromise.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D–Birmingham — chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, where the bill was assigned after passing the House — was concerned about the pregnant woman’s rights if she were to accidentally injure herself and the baby. Would she be at risk of being charged with a crime?
Ireland said wording was added to prevent that from happening.
Smitherman also was concerned with the definition of when life begins, Ireland said, noting the definition about the beginning of life in the bill was reworked and modeled after the federal government’s version.
The legislation states that a victim of a criminal homicide or assault “means a human being, including an unborn child in utero at any stage of development, regardless of viability.”
“We worked out all of the issues,” Ireland said.
Riley said he looks forward to signing the bill. “In both my 2005 and 2006 State of the State Addresses, I urged the Legislature to pass a bill to protect unborn victims of crime,” he said. “Alabama must recognize the simple truth that there are two victims, not just one, when a pregnant woman is assaulted or killed.”
Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley also praised legislators for passing the bill into law. She expressed support for the legislation throughout the session.
According to The Associated Press, 20 states have similar laws, and 12 states have laws that start later in a pregnancy.
Alabama was one of 18 states with no laws.
Most of the more than 1,400 other bills proposed by Alabama legislators will die as the House and Senate meet for their final day of the session April 17.
Legislation to address a loophole found in the state’s anti-gambling laws was one of the casualties.
Riley worked with Attorney General Troy King to develop measures to address the loophole that Milton McGregor used in late 2005 to open “sweepstakes” gambling machines at the Birmingham Race Course.
Though disappointed the legislation did not pass, Riley said he will continue to fight the expansion of gambling in Alabama.
Among the bills passed so far by the Legislature are a $1.65 billion General Fund budget and a $6 billion Eduation Trust Fund budget for 2007.
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