Pro-Life

One Victim. . .or Two?

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April 24, 2001

baby Zachariah

Tracy Marciniak holds the body of her son Zachariah, who was killed in her womb by a violent assault. This photo was taken at Zachariah’s funeral, which was delayed nearly three weeks to allow his mother to recover from her injuries.

My name is Tracy Scheide Marciniak.

On February 8, 1992, I carried within my womb an unborn baby boy, Zachariah. We were in our ninth month, only four days from delivery.

That night, the man to whom I was then married, Glendale R. Black, brutally beat me. He knew that I very much wanted my son. He punched me very hard twice in the abdomen. Then he refused to call for help, and prevented me from doing so.

When he relented, I was taken by ambulance to the hospital, where Zachariah was delivered by emergency Caesarean section. My son was dead. The physicians said he had bled to death within my womb because of blunt-force trauma. I nearly died, but I recovered.

In 1992, Wisconsin where the crime occurred, did not have an unborn victims law, and state prosecutors were unable to convict Glendale Black under a law that required them to prove that the assault was intended to kill Zachariah. So, Black was convicted of his assault on me, but not of any charge that recognized the loss of Zachariah’s life. He is already eligible for parole. In 1998, in response to my case and others like it, the Wisconsin Legislature overwhelmingly enacted one of the nation’s strongest unborn victims laws.

But federal law still fails to recognize unborn victims, like Zachariah. Even today, if Zachariah had been killed in the same manner in a federal jurisdiction, his killer could be prosecuted only for assault.

That is wrong. Congress should approve the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (H.R. 503, S. 480). Under this bill, if an unborn child is injured or killed during the commission of an already-defined federal crime of violence, that child will be recognized as a victim.

Opponents of the bill have put forth a counter-proposal, known as the Lofgren Amendment. I have read it, 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.

Any lawmaker who is thinking of voting for the Lofgren “one-victim” amendment should first look at the picture of me holding my dead son at his funeral.

Then I would say to that representative, “If you really think that nobody died that night, then vote for the ‘one-victim’ amendment. But please remember Zachariah’s name and face when you decide.”