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Forced Abortion in America
http://www.theunchoice.com/pdf/FactSheet/ForcedAbortionReportAdvanced.pdf
REMEMBERING THE VICTIMS: WOMEN AND GIRLS KILLED FOR REFUSING TO
ABORT
Following is just a partial list of women and
girls who have been murdered because they refused to undergo abortions.
We
remember all pregnant victims of violence and their unborn children as we
continue to work for a society where all life is respected.
TAMMY LYNN BAKER -- Killed by a pipe bomb set
off by her boyfriend because he didn't want to pay child support. Her
eight-month-old unborn baby also died.
CASSANDRA BETTS -- Shot to death in front of her
seven- year-old daughter in Dec. 2000 by her boyfriend after she refused to
abort. Her unborn baby also died.
STEPHANIE NICOLE BURNETT, 16 -- Killed by her
16-year-old boyfriend because he didn't want her to have a baby. An autopsy
showed she was not pregnant.
TANIKA RACHELLE FOX, 17 -- Killed by her
21-year-old boyfriend because she refused to have an abortion and he didn't want
to pay child support. Her unborn baby also died.
CHERICA ADAMS, 24 -- Killed in Nov. 1999 for
refusing to abort. Her unborn son survived. Her boyfriend was convicted for
plotting her death.
SONYA HAYES -- Killed with her unborn baby by
her boyfriend. At trial, witnesses testified that her boyfriend wanted her to
have an abortion and that he threatened to kill the baby.
SHAKEISHA LLOYD -- Ten years old, she was shot
to death along with two elderly relatives in 1991 by the man who had been
sexually abusing her after he tried to convince her to abort. Her 17-week-old
unborn baby also died.
DEANA MITTS -- Killed on New Year's Day 1999 by
a pipe bomb set off by her ex-boyfriend for refusing to abort. Her unborn baby
and seven-year-old daughter also died.
DEBORAH MOODY -- Killed by her ex-boyfriend in
1997 for refusing to abort. Her unborn baby also died.
LORENA RIVERA, 21 -- Killed by her boyfriend in
1997 for refusing to abort. Her unborn baby also died.
DAPHNE SULK, 15 -- Killed by a 38-year-old man
who had been sexually exploiting her, because she refused to abort. Her unborn
baby also died.
JENNIFER PECK -- Killed by her husband for
refusing to abort. Her four-month old unborn baby also died.
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ELLIOT
INSTITUTE APPLAUDS UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT
President Bush signed a
bill on April 1 that provides additional legal protection for pregnant mothers
and their unborn children. The federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act will allow
prosecutors to bring criminal charges when an unborn child is killed or injured
as a result of a violent act against the mother.
The act covers federal cases, including
kidnapping, terrorist bombings, and crimes committed on federal property. The
families of several pregnant women who had been murdered -- including the mother
and stepfather of Laci Peterson -- surrounded Bush as he signed the bill into
law.
Studies of death rates among pregnant women in
three different parts of the country -- Maryland, New York state, and Cook
County, Illinois -- have found that homicide was the leading killer of pregnant
women.
In the Maryland study, published in 2001 in the
prestigious "Journal of the American Medical Association," homicide was the
cause of death for 20 percent of pregnant women while murder accounted for only
6.4 percent of deaths among non-pregnant women.
"Women are literally being killed for refusing
to abort," said David Reardon, Ph.D., Elliot Institute director, and the author
of numerous books and journal articles on abortion complications. He said that
between thirty and sixty percent of all abortions are performed to satisfy the
demands of others. "Coercion is far more common than most people realize, and
sometimes the coercion can escalate to violence and even murder," he
said.
Currently 29 states also have laws protecting
unborn victims of violence, although at different stages of pregnancy. The
California Supreme Court recently upheld the state's unborn victims' act, which
is being used to prosecute Scott Peterson for the murder of the couple's unborn
son, Conner.
However, attempts to pass a similar bill in
Nebraska have been stalled by pro-abortion state Senator Ernie Chambers, who has
filed 21 different amendments to the bill in what pro-life advocates say is an
attempt to kill the legislation.
The amendments include one that seeks to
replace the phrase "unborn child" in the bill with the phrase "laddy or lassie,"
and another says that any prosecutor who files unborn victims charges "shall be
taken into custody . . . for the purpose of having such prosecutor's head
examined by a licensed psychiatrist."
"Senator Chambers' attempts to trivialize these
acts of violence is appalling, especially in light of the fact that a pregnant
17-year-old girl, Michelle Harlan, was murdered in his state last year during
her eighth month of pregnancy," Reardon said.
"He has a right to oppose the
bill, but these frivolous amendments cast ridicule on the deaths of Michelle,
her child, and are an insult to all pregnant women who are victims of violence,
their unborn children, and their families."
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Abortion 
