By Pamela Brogan
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to legally recognize a fetus as a separate victim when it is injured or killed during a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman.

The 61-38 vote sends the bill to President Bush, who has said he would sign it.

For the first time, the measure establishes when life begins under federal law. It defines "unborn child" as a "member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."

"This bill recognizes that there are two victims - the mother and the injured or killed child," said Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, who sponsored the bill in the Senate.

"This has nothing to do with abortion."

The measure bars prosecutions for abortions and medical procedures.

It will apply to dozens of federal crimes, including drive-by shootings, terrorism, attacks against federal agents and assaults that take place on federal property.

Opponents argued the measure is an attempt to undermine the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision by recognizing that a fetus has the same legal status as a pregnant woman. Roe v. Wade established a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

"This is a concerted effort to inject when life begins into law," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "Embryonic stem-cell research and abortion become murder. That's where this is going."

The Senate voted 50-49 to reject a measure that would have created the same tougher penalties for an attack on a pregnant woman but would not have recognized fetuses as separate crime victims.

Senators also defeated an amendment that would have expanded the Family Medical Leave Act to require employers to grant up to 30 days leave to victims of domestic or sexual violence.

The House approved an identical bill Feb. 26 and approved similar measures in 2001 and in 1999.

Sixteen states recognize fetuses as potential crime victims at any stage of a pregnancy. Thirteen other states have laws saying a fetus can be a crime victim only past a certain stage in a pregnancy.

The congressional bill is sometimes called Laci and Conner's Law after Laci Peterson and her unborn son. Her husband, Scott Peterson, is on trial for two counts of murder under California's unborn victims law.