UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE...LACI AND CONNOR'S LAW

I subscribe to History.com and get daily "on this day" stuff. Yesterday, June 1, there was this entry which piqued my interest:

"2004: Opening statements begin in Scott Peterson murder trial."

From the story: 

"On Christmas Eve 2002, the pregnant Laci had disappeared from Modesto, California...The bodies of Laci and her baby were found washed up on shore near the marina where Scott Peterson kept his boat on April 13 and 14, 2003. Within a week, Scott Peterson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of double homicide..."

(Note: The story doesn't give detail, but since it says "the bodies" and gives two separate dates, one can presume that the unborn child had been separated from his mother and "washed up" separately and on a different day than his mother. Did Scott Peterson carve out his unborn son from his mother's womb and kill him separately? I'll need to further read the case - or you can do it yourself.)

Since people kill people all the time in California, and crimes of passion are common (Scott Peterson was in an extramarital affair at the time), the story might have quickly been buried but for a debate that was then raging in the U.S. Congress over what was ultimately named UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT OF 2004 ("the Act") at the time the Peterson case went to trial. 

Congress passed the Act and President George W. Bush signed it into law. In short, the law states:

Whoever engages in conduct that...causes the death of, or bodily injury...to, a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place, is guilty...the punishment...is the same as the punishment provided under Federal law for that conduct had that injury or death occurred to the unborn child’s mother. 

(The full act can be read here.)

The Peterson case factored heavily into the debate as evidenced by the fact that the new law was nicknamed "Laci and Connor's Law." 

Laci Peterson was Scott Peterson's murdered wife and Connor was their "murdered son."

"Murdered son" is in quotes because at the time, pursuant to Roe, a "fetus" was not defined as a human or a person, but only as "potential life." 

As you might imagine, pro-abortion groups, including then-Catholic-presidential candidate John Kerry, vehemently opposed the Act since, of course, it opened the door for legal personhood of "the thing" that was inside "the thing's" mother. 

Kerry and his pro-abortion gang were right about the danger of such a law. They knew that once legal personhood of an unborn "thing" was codified into law, it would ultimately lead to the unraveling of Roe, which it ultimately did (Dobbs 2022). 

The federal law not only criminalized the harming or the death of "the thing," the law codified "the thing" as a "child...in utero." And, in fact, said "child in utero" even had a name: "CONNOR." 

GUAM

In 2012, Sen. Frank Blas Jr. introduced similar legislation:

Bill No. 409-31 (COR) - F.F. Blas, Jr. An act to add Chapter 16 of Title 19 of the Guam Code Annotated relative to Acts of Violence against an unborn child. Received: 1/9/12 - 10:13 a.m.

The bill failed. Here is the voting sheet:

Four years later, in January 2016, Sen. Frank Blas Jr. reintroduced the legislation as BILL NO. 231-33 UNBORN VICTIM'S OF VIOLENCE ACT. 

This time, The Esperansa Project, after a string of other anti-abortion legislative successes, was aggressively involved. The bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Eddie Calvo on Mar. 4, 2016 as P.L. 33-132.

GUAM LAW: "UNBORN CHILD"

As of Mar. 4, 2016, the following is enshrined in Guam Law:

...unborn child shall mean a child in utero, and the term “child in utero” or “child, who is in utero” means a member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb. - 9 G.C.A. § 17.03 (b)

While the subject law does not criminalize abortion in Guam, it does in fact preclude the pro-abort argument: "my body my choice." 

Guam's UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT clearly identifies the "child in utero" as a human being, a separate human being who can be murdered, and for whose murder the murderer can and shall be punished:

The penalty for murder of an unborn child shall be the same as the penalty for murder defined in Chapter 16 of Title 9, Guam Code Annotated. - 9 G.C.A. § 17.05 (b)

Pursuant to Guam law, the pro-aborts can still murder their own children, but they are doing just that: murdering their own children. 

So instead of "my body, my choice," their mantra must needs be: HIS LIFE, MY CHOICE or HER LIFE MY CHOICE. In fact, why not give him or her a name? Like "Connor" or "Connie." The U.S. Congress did. 

BACK TO PETERSON

Scott Peterson was found guilty of murdering both Laci and Connor. 

In the murder of Connor, Scott Peterson's unborn son, Peterson was convicted and found guilty under California's Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a) [which] defines murder as “the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought.” 

What is quite interesting is that the subject section of California's penal code was expanded to include "the unlawful killing of...a fetus" in or about 1970. 

California is known to be one of the most liberal states in the nation. Yet, already in or about 1970, even California recognized the "malice" of "killing a fetus" and by implication, that said "fetus" was in fact a human being and a legal person - otherwise "it" could not be "killed." 

It would take "Catholic" Guam nearly half a century and two tries to do the same. 

And had it not been for The Esperansa Project and its supporters, the second bill would have probably suffered the same fate as the first. 

BTW. Here's the Voting Sheet on the bill that became Guam's UNBORN VICTIM'S OF VIOLENCE ACT.

FR. STAN FORTUNA

UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE

I was at the airport-

Opened up the paper-

I was shocked at what I saw-

Talk about a new law could it be a new rule

Or was it just another fool

I had to read it again-

Thought there was somethin I was missin-

Could it be it was the truth-

Comin from a politician-

Or was it just wishful thinking what I was readin

Or was it just an attempt to stop our national bleedin

A new kinda law-

To overturn Roe v Wade

To get the nation back on track-

With how we use financial aid-

All the hotsy-totsy people getting worked up in a tirade

Republicans and Democrats

Under-worked and overpaid

The next time in the court-

Death presented opposition-

The demon started screamin-

About the truth of our position-

They saw their end comin destined for the grave

Ain't this the land of the free

And the home of the brave

CHORUS:

Thou shall not kill

But not on Capital Hill

Ya let us do it with the doctor

Or we do it with the pill

Mommies ain't safe in the streets

But if a thug come and beats

Mommy over the head

And leaves the baby for dead

Ya say it's fine but it's tragic

We can't stop it with magic

It's politically bleak

It's cause we're spiritually weak

Y'all try to cover up the scam

With illegitimate silence

Check it "I'm here to defend

Unborn victims of violence"

Let's let freedom ring-

Bring it to the Senate-

These are the dogs-

Who gonna try to prevent it-

They will never admit it-

The government's the culprit-

There is silence in the clergy-

Some won't preach it from the pulpit-

Congress is afraid to speak-

They livin like a puppet-

You gotta watch ya never know

Who got their hand on a string

We'll never really find out

What happened to Kennedy and King

Too many educated lawyers-

Could the situation worsen-

Is it really true they don't believe-

It ain't a fetus but a person-

Governmental desecration

Multi-million lives been spent

What will it take for them to learn

The right to life is self-evident

Legislation makin bad laws-

Year to year case to case-

Destroying the culture-

Poisonin the market place-

This is the land of the free-

This is the home of the brave-

As we movin on we steppin back we livin like a slave

Livin in denial sleepin in a grave

The embryos are frozen the suicide's assisted

You call this freedom "wake up" this is seriously twisted

CHORUS:

Thou shall not kill

But not on Capital Hill

Ya let us do it with the doctor

Or we do it with the pill

Mommies ain't safe in the streets

But if a thug come and beats

Mommy over the head

And leaves the baby for dead

Ya say it's fine but it's tragic

We can't stop it with magic

It's politically bleak

It's cause we're spiritually weak

Y'all try to cover up the scam

With illegitimate silence

Check it "I'm here to defend

Unborn victims of violence"

CHORUS:

Thou shall not kill

But not on Capital Hill

Ya let us do it with the doctor

Or we do it with the pill

Mommies ain't safe in the streets

But if a thug come and beats

Mommy over the head

And leaves the baby for dead

Ya say it's fine but it's tragic

We can't stop it with magic

It's politically bleak

It's cause we're spiritually weak

Y'all try to cover up the scam

With illegitimate silence

Check it "I'm here to defend

Unborn victims of violence"

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