Abstract
This paper comprises of a case study of a victim of violence, Heaven Lashy, the unborn baby girl of Shiwona Prince, Arkansas 1999. This paper researches the history and evolution of the law "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" and explains how a course of debilitating efforts and ironic incidences led to its evolution.

Contents:
Abstract
Case Study
Evolution of Unborn Victims Violence Act
Legal Issues Arising From The Violence Act Against Unborn Victims
What The Future Holds

From the Paper
"Fortunately, a month before this incidence the state of Arkansas had adopted a new State Law by the name of Unborn Victims of Violence Act August 1999. This law recognized unborn children as crime victims and thereby gave a status of living human being to fetuses. Thanks to that law, Shiwona's boyfriend, Erik Bullock and the men he hired were duly prosecuted and convicted for their murder of Heaven along with assault on Shiwona. The law was meant to protect all such Heavens who are unable to protect themselves.
But many women have not been as fortunate as Shiwona. As the March 21, 2001 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals that after doing away with age and race, homicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant women in Maryland while the same is fifth leading cause of death among non-pregnant women. This indicates that the fatal and non-fatal assaults on pregnant women - including those who are attacked knowingly and intentionally "with child", are far more common than most people presume. "

Tags:fetus, violence, murder, assult, abortion, bill

Abstract
This paper discusses how historically, the concept of rape has severed to protect a man's right to exclusive sexual access to his woman, while the feminist re-definition of rape empowers women to assert control over their own bodies. This paper also reviews various reactions to this re-definition of rape and discusses the effects that rape has on a victim.

From the Paper
"Criminology indicated that date rape was an under-reported crime (Date pp). Vanstone highlighted the fact that sex through physical violence is clearly viewed as rape, date rape, on the other hand, may not involve physical violence (Date pp). There are other forms other forms of coercion to obtain sex that is also considered rape, such as "fear of violence, detention, intoxication with alcohol or a drug, and deception can all be factors relevant to whether the woman has consented (Date pp). Vanstone said that date rape has been an offence for a very long time, yet only recently has been acknowledged as a serious social problem (Date pp). According to a 1996 survey, almost 90 percent of rape victims know the perpetrator, and of these victims, some 25 percent were the current partner, boyfriend or date of the victim in the twelve months prior to the survey, and if previous partners are added in, the percentage is as high as 37 percent (Date pp). However, date rape is rarely reported to law enforcement authorities, and most surveys indicate that the number of sexual assaults reported to the police are only the tip of the iceberg (Date pp). "

Tags:date, rape, issues, sexual, victimization, control, assult, post, traumatic, stress, sex