As the law currently stands, North Carolina seems to value unborn deer more than unborn humans, Rep. Trudi Walend said Tuesday at a press conference in support of the Unborn Victims of Violence Bill.
Walend, R-Transylvania, reminded those in attendance that North Carolina charges deer poachers two fines, one per animal, when a doe and her fetus are killed, but does not impose double-homicide charges on the murderer of a woman and her unborn baby.
In an attempt to rally support for a hearing for the bill, which has been stuck in a House Judiciary Committee since February, Walend and many of the bill’s primary and cosponsors said that North Carolina is the only state in the Southeast that has not adopted a similar bill.
Kevin Blaine of Wake County and several other families demand to know why. “I want my grandson to be recognized,” said Blaine, who came to the podium at the conference.
As the father of Jennifer Nielsen, 22, who was slain behind a Raleigh convenience store in June when in her eighth month of pregnancy, Blaine said he is determined to do everything he can to help change North Carolina’s homicide law. The law prevents prosecutors from seeking two homicide charges when a woman and her fetus are slain. Currently, killing a fetus can only be an aggravating factor in a homicide in North Carolina.
“These are not North Carolina values,” said Rep. Fred Steen, R-Rowan, one of the bill’s primary sponsors.
The federal government and 36 states have enacted laws that allow a homicide charge to be brought for the unlawful killing of an unborn child. But Walend said that strong and differing political opinions about abortion always inhibited progress of the bill in North Carolina. Some of the bill’s sponsors explained how the intent of the bill did not have to be intertwined with endless abortion debate.
“Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, we all lose,” said Rep. Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg, who stressed that an absence of a law for unborn victims leaves no punishment for the wrongful death of a human life.
House Minority Leader Paul Stam, R- Wake, addressed another common debate surrounding the bill: The length of time it takes before a fetus becomes a human life. “Regardless of gestation,” he said, “there is still a loss.”
Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, said there has been no discussion of the bill on the Democrats’ side, but it was an issue he would be willing to explore.
Brittany Bussian is an editorial intern for Carolina Journal.