On April 1, 2004 President George W. Bush signed into law a federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also called Laci and Connor's Law, in memory of the murders of Laci Peterson and her unborn child, Connor. The federal law only applies to federal crimes or crimes committed on federal property. Since then, 35 States have enacted their own Unborn Victims of Violence Acts to cover non-federal crimes in their State. Unfortunately, the State of New York has not.

Under New York Law, if an unborn child is killed or injured, the offender may not be held criminally responsible for the harm caused to that child unless it had been “born alive” {Penal Law S 10.00(7), 125.05(1)}. The only criminal responsibility in such a situation will be for the harm caused to the pregnant mother.

The need for correction of this law can be plainly seen because of continuous New York media accounts of brutal violence against pregnant women and their unborn children. One cause of this violence is the State policy of demanding that fathers provide for their children. For example:

• In 1999, A 31-year old divorced nurse in the Bronx had an affair with married doctor. He asked her to get an abortion. When she refused and told him that he would have to pay child support, he forcefully injected her with two syringes containing methotrexate, an abortifcient, telling her, “I am giving you an abortion.!”

• In January of 2002, a Buffalo man deliberately beat his pregnant girlfriend to abort an unborn child he had fathered.

• In April 2005, a 33-year old pregnant Brooklyn woman, just days away from her delivery date, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head. Her former boyfriend was charged with second-degree murder in her death, but no charges can be brought for the death of her unborn son.

• In June 2006, a pregnant high school junior from Ramapo was beaten to death with a baseball bat by the 23 year old father of her baby. He was convicted of her murder but faced no charges for the death of the child.