“This bill is about putting bad people in jail who do horrible things to pregnant women...and the children they are carrying, ” West Virginia State Senator Jeff Kessler (D) remarked during a bill signing for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (Christy and Ashley’s Law - Senate Bill 146) on March 28, 2005.

When pro-life Governor Joe Manchin (D-WV) signed Christy and Ashley’s Law, West Virginia joined thirty states and the federal government in recognizing unborn children as separate victims of crime.

“West Virginians for Life applauds the West Virginia Legislature for taking such bold action to protect mothers and their unborn children from violent crime,” said Melissa Adkins, West Virginians for Life Legislative Coordinator.

The Democratically controlled legislature sent a strong message to criminals who would injure or kill pregnant women and their unborn children. The Senate approved the measure 32-2. It was the first bill passed by the Senate during the 2005 legislative session. The House of Delegates adopted the bill by a vote of 81-17 and sent it to the Governor.

Senate Bill 146 was sponsored by twenty-seven of the thirty-four Senators, including Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin (D) and lead sponsor Senator Jeff Kessler (D), Chairman of the powerful Judiciary Committee. Delegate Tim Ennis (D) was the lead sponsor of the House bill.

West Virginians for Life, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, was the only organization actively working to pass a true unborn victims law; soundly defeating an attempt by pro-abortion legislators in the House of Delegates to gut the bill with a single victim substitute. This amendment would have increased the penalties for attacking a pregnant woman, however, it would not have recognized the unborn child as a separate victim before viability.

“West Virginians for Life staff spent a great deal of time educating legislators, the media, and the public about the need for this important legislation,” Brian Louk, WVFL Development Coordinator, stated. “We strongly opposed the single victim doctrine, because when an unborn child is killed in a criminal attack, the family mourns the death of that child. They do not view it simply as an additional injury to the mother.”

It was the second time the West Virginia Legislature overwhelmingly passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. In 2004, West Virginians for Life gained bi-partisan support for the legislation which was vetoed by former pro-abortion Governor Bob Wise.

CBS’s Early Show on February 23, 2005, reported that murder is a leading cause of death of pregnant women. The story highlighted several cases which gained national attention. West Virginia is not without its own tragic stories.

The West Virginia law is named for Christy and Ashley Alberts of Charleston, West Virginia. Christy was nearly nine months pregnant when she was shot execution style, killing both her and her unborn daughter whom she had already named Ashley Nicole. The Alberts family was devastated to learn that no murder charges would be filed on behalf of little Ashley. In fact, because West Virginia did not have a fetal homicide law, Ashley was not recognized as a victim at all. It was forbidden to even mention Christy’s pregnancy during the trial of the murderers.

“Ashley was a little human being just like you and me,” a tearful Stephanie Alberts, Christy’s mother and Ashley’s grandmother, told reporters at the bill signing. “And to be told she didn’t exist ...I buried Ashley in my daughter’s arms. She was real.”

“For far too long, gaps in West Virginia law have denied justice to families who have had their unborn children killed or injured at the hands of a criminal,” added Melissa Adkins. “Now that Governor Manchin has signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act into law, a mother who loses her child to a brutal attacker in West Virginia will no longer be told that her baby didn’t exist in the eyes of the law.”

Addressing those attending the bill signing, Karen Cross, West Virginians for Life Executive Director, shared the tragic story of a young mother. “I’ve spoken to another victim whose boyfriend beat her in the abdomen intending to kill her child because she refused to have an abortion. The only charges she could file were for battery for herself, yet her baby is dead.”

Cross concluded, “West Virginia law now sees the baby Ashleys in our state as victims and will punish their assailants accordingly.”