In the nation’s capital, there are no protections for the unborn. Take, for example, the ability of one abortionist to “tout his supposed expertise in performing abortions to about the beginning of the eighth month” on his website, according to the National Right to Life Committee. The NRLC notes that “under current District law, there is nothing to prevent this abortionist or others from killing such babies up to the moment of birth.”
Another issue has come to light involving an unborn child who died after a home invader stabbed the child’s mother. A March 23 press release from the National Right to Life Committee reports that on Thursday, March 22, an unidentified person entered the apartment of a pregnant woman and stabbed her. The mother was taken to the hospital, where her son “was delivered and was later pronounced dead,” according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Kuron Rashad Hunt, the child, is considered a murder victim in the District of Columbia, but only because he was born before he perished. Had Kuron died in his mother’s womb, he would not have been considered a murder victim.
According to Douglas Johnson, the legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee:
This case provides another demonstration that in our nation’s capital, an unborn child has absolutely no right to life at any moment prior to birth. In the eyes of current local law, nobody died in this crime – not unless prosecutors can prove that Kuron Rashad Hunt was born alive before he died. Under current D.C. law, the unborn child is a complete legal non-entity, even during the final months of pre-natal development.
The March 23 press release notes that the abortionist mentioned earlier can perform abortions up to about the beginning of the eighth month, which is the “same stage of development as Kuron Rashad Hunt had reached, if press reports are accurate.”
Johnson continued his statement by noting:
The District has no fetal homicide law because such laws are vehemently opposed by the pro-abortion lobby, with which the mayor and District Council are in lock-step. The District has no fetal homicide law for the same reason that abortion is allowed for any reason right up to the moment of birth in the District. District law is consistent – consistent in refusing to protect the right to life of an unborn child at any moment prior to birth, either from abortionists or from knife-wielding home invaders.
In January, the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, known in the House as H.R. 3803 and in the Senate as S. 2103, was introduced in Congress. According to the National Right to Life Committee, this act would prevent abortions after 20 weeks fetal age, which is about six months into a pregnancy. The law would not apply when a mother’s life is endangered. In the House, the bill has 154 cosponsors, with six in the Senate. Five states currently have similar laws in place.
You can find out more about the National Right to Life Committee here. A press release from the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia concerning the murder of Kuron Rashad Hunt can be found here. More information from the National Right to Life Committee on Unborn Child Pain is available here.
