By Tim Rohr
Yesterday's Guam Daily Post ran a story about a woman reportedly striking another woman who was six months pregnant with a pipe and then dragging her by the hair until she fell on the ground and onto her stomach.
The last line of the story reads:
Nick was charged with aggravated assault as a third-degree felony and assault of an unborn child as a misdemeanor.
To my knowledge, this is the first time someone has been charged with an "assault of an unborn child." The law is P.L. 33-132 and the relevant part is set out in the Guam Code as follows:
§ 17.08. Assault of an Unborn Child.
(a) A person commits assault of an unborn child if he or she, without legal justification and by any means, commits assault on a pregnant woman as defined in § 19.30 of Chapter 19, Title 9, Guam Code Annotated.
(b) It is not a defense that no injury was caused to the unborn child as a result of the assault.
(c) Assault of an unborn child is punishable to the same extent and manner as the offense of assault defined in Chapter 19 of Title 9, Guam Code Annotated.
The law, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, began as Bill 231-33 and was introduced by Sen. Frank Blas, Jr. IN 2016 with the support of The Esperansa Project. It was one of eight bills in six years that The Esperansa Project either initiated or supported and which were enacted into law despite a strong pro-abortion element in the Legislature.
It was and is an important law because it enshrines the term "unborn child" into Guam Law and treats the unborn child as a distinct human being with a right to be protected in the womb.
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