Barbara Boxer: “According to the experts, creating a separate offense for a child in utero would make it less likely that someone who…”

“According to the experts, creating a separate offense for a child in utero would make it less likely that someone who harms or terminates a pregnancy would be convicted of a separate offense. So I find it stunning that, rather than back Senator Feinstein's substitute, which is very clear--you harm a pregnant woman, you are going to do double the time, you are going to get double the punishment, and it avoids all question of Roe v. Wade--it shocks me my colleagues on the other side would rather have a weaker bill, soft on the criminal, soft on crime, in order to undermine Roe v. Wade. It is an injection of a political agenda into the criminal justice system which I think harms the integrity of the system. Again, I am at a loss for words. That is hard for me to believe. But if you look at domestic violence groups, they will tell you how they feel about it. They say they don't support the legislation. They feel it would actually be harmful to battered women. Again, as someone who coauthored the Violence Against Women Act with Senator Biden, here we have a piece of legislation that is going to be harmful to battered women. Yet the other side will not support Senator Feinstein's amendment, which absolutely avoids this problem.”