On November 21 the Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas' highest criminal court, unanimously upheld a conviction for the homicide of an unborn child by a third party against the mother's wishes. The case, Lawrence v. Texas, involved the double murder of a pregnant women and an unborn child.

 

Presiding Judge Sharon Keller wrote that Roe v. Wade has "no application to a statute that prohibits a third party from causing the death of the woman's unborn child against her will. . . . the Legislature is free to protect the lives of those whom it considers to be human beings. This is a policy decision that is properly reserved to the democratic process, and should not be subject to judicial second-guessing."

In September TAL had filed a scholarly amicus curiae ("friend-of-the-court") brief in the Court of Criminal Appeals to support the law's constitutionality. "We are very pleased with the Court's opinion," said Joe Pojman, Ph.D., Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life (TAL). "The highest criminal court in Texas has recognized that an unborn child is an individual person worthy of protection from murder and assault the same as any other person already born. According to the criminal laws of Texas, an unborn child is a baby." (Funding for TAL's "friend-of-the-court briefs" comes from donations to the Texas Alliance for Life Trust Fund.)

According to court documents, Terence Chadwick Lawrence dated Antwonyia Smith and another woman during the summer of 2004. Upon learning that Smith was pregnant with his child, he told the other girlfriend that he would "take care of" the problem. He then shot Smith three times with a shotgun, causing her death and the death of her 4- to 6-week-old unborn child. (The photo at right is of an unborn child 17-19 weeks after conception.) He was charged with capital murder for "intentionally or knowingly killing Ms. Smith and her unborn child" and sentenced to life in prison. Lawrence appealed the conviction to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas and finally to the Court of Criminal Appeals.

In a separate but similar case before the Court of Criminal Appeals, a man was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for murdering his 19-week-old unborn twin boys by beating his pregnant girlfriend. In Flores v. State, Gerardo Flores contends that he beat the mother to induce an abortion that she had requested. TAL also filed a scholarly amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in that case making the case that the Prenatal Protection Act still protects unborn children. It is not known when the Court will issue an opinion in that case.

 

The Texas Legislature passed the Prenatal Protection Act in 2003 (Senate Bill 319), with the strong support of TAL and other pro-life organizations in Texas and over the objections of abortion advocacy organizations including NARAL Pro-Choice Texas and the Texas Association of Planned Parenthood Affiliates. (Click here for a list of organizations that supported or opposed SB 319.) 

 

The Prenatal Protection Act also protects pregnant women from violence. "Mothers a lot to be thankful for," commented Dr. Beverly Nuckols, M.D., a member of the board of directors of Texas Alliance for Life (TAL) and a former member of the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women. "We hope that the publicity from this and other convictions will help protect pregnant women and their unborn children from assault and murder. Homicide is one of the leading causes of death for pregnant women," she said.