ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 26, 1996 TAG: 9611260120
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
A House of Delegates panel Monday recommended tougher penalties for killing pregnant women, but rejected a Senate-approved bill making "feticide" a separate crime.
The Courts of Justice subcommittee voted to raise the minimum prison term for first-degree murder in cases where the victim was pregnant to 25 years. The current minimum is 20 years.
Sen. Mark Earley, a Chesapeake Republican and anti-abortion leader, said the subcommittee action devalues the "life of the child the mother wanted."
Earley said he would urge the full committee, which meets Dec.20, to restore his proposal to make the killing of a fetus akin to first-degree murder.
Earley said the August slaying of a Petersburg woman who was nine months pregnant cries out for such a law. Police charged the suspect with one count of murder. The proposed "feticide" law would have enabled police to file two murder charges: one for killing the mother; one for killing the unborn child.
Although half of the states have a similar statute, opponents contend the bill would violate a centuries-old precedent by granting legal rights to the unborn.
The House Courts subcommittee skirted these legal uncertainties by beefing up the murder statute. The panel also voted to give police an explicit right to file a malicious wounding charge against someone who harms a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry.
"We are recognizing the horrible injury suffered by these women," said Karen Raschke, lobbyist for Planned Parenthood of Virginia.
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