by TChris

The Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004 (a/k/a Laci and Conner's Law, named after Laci Peterson and her unborn child) creates a separate crime when the victim of a federal crime is pregnant and the crime causes death or injury to "a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place." For the most part, "the punishment for that separate offense is the same as the punishment provided under Federal law for that conduct had that injury or death occurred to the unborn child's mother." The law took effect on April 1 over the objection of critics who believe that equating the life of a woman to the life of her fetus is a sneaky way of undermining the right to abortion.

It turns out that the law has a salutary effect, although one not envisioned by the politicians who were eager to exploit Laci Peterson's death for their own political purposes. Relying on that law, a federal judge ruled that a pregnant Mexican woman who is alleged to have falsely claimed citizenship while entering the U.S. cannot be deported because her unborn child is a citizen and the government has no right to deport citizens.

The Constitution provides that every person born in the U.S. is a citizen of the U.S. The woman's child hasn't been born, but under Laci and Conner's Law, that's a minor technicality; if a child who hasn't been born enjoys the same legal protections as a child who has been born, shouldn't the unborn child also be entitled to citizenship? If so, the government can't deport the noncitizen without simultaneously deporting the citizen, something the government is powerless to do.

The judge's decision will likely be overturned on appeal, but by then, the child will have been born and there will be no dispute about citizenship. The child, at least, will be entitled to stay in the country with its citizen father.