Chris Smith: “last year I met a courageous woman named Tracy Marciniak who had been beaten by her husband when she was 9 months…”

“last year I met a courageous woman named Tracy Marciniak who had been beaten by her husband when she was 9 months pregnant. She survived, but her baby Zachariah died from the beating. Her attacker was convicted of the assault on Tracy, and he did minimal time. No charges were brought against him for the murder of Zachariah. Tracy wrote: ``Congress should approve the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. Opponents of the bill have put forth a counterproposal known as the Lofgren amendment. I have read it,'' she goes on to say, ``and it is offensive to me, because it says that there is only one victim in such a crime; the woman who is pregnant. ``Please hear me on this: On the night of February 8, 1992, there were two victims. I was nearly killed, but I survived. Little Zachariah died.'' Mr. Speaker, in a recent Fox News-Opinion Dynamics poll, 84 percent said that homicide charges are appropriate in the deaths of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Connor in the much-publicized Peterson murder case in California; only 7 percent said that a single homicide charge would be appropriate. Mr. Speaker, Congress must pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Connor's Law.”