[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 14 (Monday, April 5, 2004)]
[Pages 514-515]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Signing the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004

April 1, 2004

    Thank you for coming. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for 
the warm welcome. [Laughter] Welcome to the people's house, the White 
House. I'm pleased that you all could be here for the first bill signing 
ceremony of the year 2004.
    The Unborn Victims of Violence Act provides that, under Federal law, 
any person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb shall be 
charged with a separate offense, in addition to any charges relating to 
the mother. As of today, the law of our Nation will acknowledge the 
plain fact that crimes of violence against a pregnant woman often have 
two victims. And therefore, in those cases, there are two offenses to be 
punished. Under this law, those who direct violence toward a pregnant 
woman will answer for the full extent of the harm they have done and for 
all the crimes they have committed.
    I appreciate Members of the United States Congress who have joined 
us today. Majority Leader Bill Frist is with us from the Senate. Thank 
you for coming. Majority Leader Tom DeLay of the House of 
Representatives, Members from both political parties have joined us. I 
appreciate the Members on stage here. House bill sponsor Congresswoman 
Melissa Hart from Pennsylvania is with us. Senate sponsor Senator Mike 
DeWine from Ohio is with us. And the chairmen of the Judiciary 
Committees, Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner, are 
with us as well. Thank you all. I appreciate those in attendance today 
from across the country who have worked hard to get this bill passed.
    I also want to thank Sharon Rocha and her husband, Ron Grantski, for 
joining us today. This act of Congress addresses tragic losses such as 
Sharon and Ron have known. They have laid to rest their daughter Laci, a 
beautiful young woman who was joyfully awaiting the arrival of a new 
son. They have also laid to rest that child, a boy named Conner, who was 
waiting to be born when his life too was taken. His little soul never 
saw light, but he was loved, and he is remembered. And his name is 
forever joined with that of his mom in this statute, which is also known 
as Laci and Conner's law. All who knew Laci Peterson have mourned two 
deaths, and the law cannot look away and pretend there was just one.
    Each of these families on this stage has lost a child or a 
grandchild or both. Carol and Buford Lyons, Tracy Marciniak-Seavers, 
Stephanie Alberts, Cynthia Warner, I thank you all for your courage for 
coming today.
    As these and the other families understand, any time an expectant 
mother is a victim of violence, two lives are in the balance, each 
deserving protection and each deserving justice. If the crime is murder 
and the unborn child's life ends, justice demands a full accounting 
under the law.
    Until today, the Federal Criminal Code had been silent on the injury 
or death of a child in cases of violence against a pregnant woman. This 
omission in the law has led to clear injustices. The death of an 
innocent unborn child has too often been treated as a detail in one 
crime but not a crime in itself. Police and prosecutors had been to 
crime scenes and have shared the grief of families but have so often 
been unable to seek justice for the full offense. The American people as 
well have learned of these cases, and they urged action. The swift 
bipartisan passage of this bill through Congress this year indicates

[[Page 515]]

a strong consensus that the suffering of two victims can never equal 
only one offense.
    The moral concern of humanity extends to those unborn children who 
are harmed or killed in crimes against their mothers. And now, the 
protection of Federal law extends to those children as well. With this 
action, we widen the circle of compassion and inclusion in our society, 
and we reaffirm that the United States of America is building a culture 
of life.
    It is now my honor to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 
2004.

Note: The President spoke at 2:57 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. H.R. 1997, approved April 1, was assigned Public Law No. 108-212.