'Protectors' of unborn put them in peril

By Joni Seager
Originally published April 7, 2004


LAST WEEK, President Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, a bill that creates a separate federal offense if bodily injury or death of a "child in utero" occurs during the commission of certain crimes.

This new federal law recognizes everything from a zygote to a fetus as an independent "victim," with legal protection distinct from the pregnant woman who has been harmed.

At the signing, Mr. Bush declared proudly that "with this action ... we reaffirm that the United States of America is building a culture of life."

Critics of this law argue that it is a cynical assault on women's reproductive rights. But if we take the Bush administration's commitment to protect "unborn innocents" on its own narrow terms, we might expect a genuinely fetus-friendly White House to be fierce in its efforts to stamp out other well-known threats to the "unborn" -- such as mercury pollution.

All scientific experts agree that exposure to mercury is especially toxic to fetuses and children. Like lead, mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that can cause brain damage and learning disabilities, and often causes irreversible neurological damage. Coal-burning power plants are the single biggest human-made source of mercury pollution in the United States. The technology and the regulatory framework for reducing mercury emissions from power plants are easily at hand.

-more-

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.fetus07apr07,0,3842589.story?coll=bal-pe-opinion