WASHINGTON — The Alliance Defense Fund issued a letter Thursday to the Office of Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Hood, Texas, urging it to enforce the law by charging the suspect in the Fort Hood massacre with the killing of all 14 of the dead victims in the Fort Hood massacre, including the pre-born child of Private Francheska Velez.

“All murder victims--born and pre-born--deserve equal justice,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven H. Aden. “Women who volunteer to protect our country deserve to know that the government will enforce the laws that protect their children.”

Military prosecutors have charged Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan with 13 counts of premeditated murder after last week’s shooting at Fort Hood but have not yet charged him with the death of Velez’s child, being referred to as “Baby Velez.”  Army officials have indicated that additional charges against Hasan are under consideration.

The ADF letter urges enforcement of Article 119a of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which makes it a crime for anyone “to cause the death...of a child, who is in utero at the time the conduct takes place” regardless of whether the killer intended to kill the child. If the killer intended to kill the child, he can be prosecuted for murder under Article 118.

“According to press accounts, Private Velez had returned to America from Iraq a week before the shooting,” the letter states. “Private Velez was three months pregnant and was excited about being a new mother. She was scheduled to begin maternity leave next month. She was filling out paperwork relating to her pregnancy when she and her child were killed.... It would cause a severe and negative impact on morale if Army women were made to believe that the Army valued their children less than they did adult victims of crime. We respectfully request that you enforce UCMJ Article 119a against the suspect.”

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.