Updated 07/10/2007 02:52 PM
Bill would protect unborn victims
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RALEIGH -- State lawmakers are debating whether or not someone who commits a crime that causes the death of a fetus should face separate charges for the unborn victim.
Under current state law, the victim would only be charged for the death of the mother and not the unborn child, but the family of Jenna Nielsen is trying to change that. The 22-year-old pregnant mother was killed last month as she was delivering newspapers in Raleigh.
State Rep. Fred Steen, R-Rowan, is sponsoring the bill called the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
“I think people are waking up and saying ‘we need to make a change here,’” said state Rep. Fred Steen, R-Rowan, who is sponsoring the bill called the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. “This is something that we need to do and protect the unborn child which is an innocent victim of this crime."
In Rowan County, a driver faces charges for the death of a woman killed in a car accident but not in the death of the baby she was carrying.
State Republicans will hold a news conference Tuesday morning to talk about the status of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act.
North Carolina is one of 15 states that does not carry a double murder charge for the killing of a pregnant woman.