The Humanity of the 14th Victim

Regarding Senator Jim Risch (R-ID) calling for Fort Hood prosecutors to seek indictment for killing the 14th victim, the unborn child of one of the other victims, Alan asks:

Conservatives will applaud this, of course, which is why Risch is doing it. But geez, there are already 13 counts of murder; another one won’t accomplish anything tangible. My main beef is that this is simply injecting politics into a tragic situation. And really, isn’t going on the radio to announce this position simply political opportunism?

Isn’t Risch just exploiting these murders for his own political gain?

This isn’t about politics. This is about recognizing that an innocent human life was snuffed out and taken away and to give that life the dignity of having his or her murderer brought to justice. By Alan’s standards, why bother to prosecute for all 13 victims, we could just as easily only prosecute for six of the killings and still get the death penalty, and we’d save on paper.

Why don’t we only prosecute for six killings? Because it would diminish the value of the other seven lives. Those unborn lives in a violent crime should be honored and respected. This is also why we passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act which is the law of land, and Senator Risch simply called for the enforcement of the law, and his stance is completely appropriate.