The U.S. Senate passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act last week, which would make it a separate crime to kill or injure both a woman and her unborn fetus.

The bill, which was co-sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., passed by a vote of 61-38.

"The federal law should reflect what an overwhelming number of Americans recognize, that when a pregnant woman and her unborn child are attacked, there are two victims," a Santorum press release said.

The House bill, which was passed last month by a vote of 254-163 and known as Laci and Conner's Law, was introduced in 2002 by one of its sponsors, Rep. Melissa Hart, R-Pa., after the death of Laci Peterson and her unborn son.

"She's delighted because it's the first time that this has been done as far as the Senate," Hart's press secretary Lee Cohen said. "The president has given us his assurance that if it were passed by the Senate that he would sign it into law."

The bill allows an assailant who commits a violent federal crime against a pregnant woman to be prosecuted for separate offenses against both the woman and her unborn child. The legislation defines an "unborn child" as a child in utero, it says "[it] means a member of the species Homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb."

Some think allowing prosecution of a suspect for separate offenses when a pregnant mother is attacked will undermine women's right to choose if they want to continue their pregnancy because this law defines a fetus as an individual.

Jennifer Ziegler, Planned Parenthood for the Susquehanna Valley spokeswoman, said the bill's passage has not changed Planned Parenthood's position.

"We still think it takes the focus off women who are victims of crimes," Ziegler said. "It's another attempt to erode a woman's right to choose by establishing fetal person-hood."

Ziegler said women must oppose legislation that defines a fetus as human.

Members of Penn State Students for Life support the bill.

"I'm really excited that it passed and I cannot wait for it to be put into effect so that it can protect women and their unborn children," Andrea Staargaard (sophomore-marketing and international business) said.

A case involving the vehicular homicide of a pregnant woman occurred in the area in 2001. The outcome of the case may have been affected if the Unborn Victims of Violence Act was law at the time.

That year, a Centre County judge ruled Alfred Cantolina would not be charged with a second count of vehicular homicide or homicide while driving under the influence after killing a 29-year-old woman and her unborn son in a car accident on Benner Pike. Cantolina was convicted for killing the woman in July 2001 and sentenced to four-and-half-years in a Westmoreland County prison.

Ziegler said the bill's passage has the realistic chance of overturning the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in 1973.

"Women need to realize possibly overturning this decision isn't healthy for anyone," Ziegler said.

Hart does not think the legislation will affect current abortion laws.

"The bill isn't about abortion at all," Cohen said. "The bill is really about violence against pregnant women and their families and their babies, if they are harmed or killed."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.