Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - Authorities in Australia's most populous state are considering changing a century-old law so the deaths of unborn babies could be classified as homicide in certain cases. Any change would not apply to abortion, however.

The decision was prompted by a case this week in which a driver who caused an accident escaped homicide charges because the unborn, seven month-old baby who died as a result of the crash was not considered a human being under current law.

Even though any change to the law will specifically not apply in cases of abortion, pro-lifers Thursday welcomed the announcement as a positive "step forward," even as they acknowledged the irony of the situation.

"It's giving recognition to the fact that unborn babies are people too," said Margaret Tighe, president of Right to Life Australia.

"Yet it's very ironic that they can be killed by an abortionist at the request of the mother, but if the mother didn't want her child killed and some felon assaults her -- whether with a motor car or by kicking her -- then it's a different matter."

"For seven months he was alive and living inside me," the baby's mother, Renee Shields, told a New South Wales newspaper after the man appeared in court this week. She asked who was going to pay for her son's death.

Shields herself narrowly escaped death and had a hysterectomy as a result of the incident late last year. A drunken driver had forced the car she and her partner were in onto a power pole and then sped away from the crash scene shouting abuse at the couple.

The man, who has yet to be sentenced, faces a maximum seven-year prison term for dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm, but manslaughter charges - maximum 25 years - cannot be brought against him.

A criminal law in place since 1900 says a child will be considered to be alive "if it has breathed and has been wholly born into the world."

New South Wales attorney-general Bob Debus said a review of criminal legislation announced several weeks ago would now be broadened to consider this issue.

The law as it stands, he said, may not be appropriate in today's circumstances and with today's medical technology. It may also not reflect community opinion.

"That's why I have decided that we should actually include this question of the homicide against an unborn child in a review [of the manslaughter law] that was announced last month."

The review would consider such issues as whether it would be necessary for the person responsible for the child's death to have known beforehand that the woman was pregnant.

Debus made it clear that the issue of abortion would not come into the review, however.

"We are having an investigation into how better to structure the law of manslaughter, we are in no way dealing with the question of abortion and the issues it raises."

Tighe said changing the law to acknowledge the human-ness of a fetus except in cases of abortion was "grossly inconsistent, but nonetheless it is a recognition of the rights of some unborn children - the one's who are lucky enough to be wanted by their mothers."

'Difficult situation for abortion lobby'

Several years ago, a man in another Australian state, Queensland, kicked his pregnant girlfriend in the stomach after she refused to have an abortion. The child died.

The fact that the assailant could only be charged with assault caused a storm, Graham Preston, the Queensland coordinator for Right to Life Australia, recalled Thursday.

This prompted a lawmaker to introduce an amendment to the state's criminal code in 1997, which says that "any person who unlawfully assaults a female, pregnant with child, and destroys the life of, or does grievous bodily harm to, or transmits a serious disease to the child, before its birth, commits a crime."

Preston said the lawmaker initially intended to have the law apply only in cases when the child was capable of living outside the womb -- or around 24 weeks -- but Right to Life's lobbying succeeded in ensuring that the amendment applies to any stage of pregnancy.

"We expected a lot more fuss at the time [from pro-abortion campaigners] but they found themselves in a very difficult situation. Everyone could see the injustice [in the kicking assault case] and the community was very sympathetic."

Preston said the pro-abortion campaigners had probably felt protected by the fact the law specifies that a crime is committed in cases where a pregnant woman is assaulted.

From their point of view, an abortion isn't an unlawful assault because it's done at the request of the mother.

But Right to Life now plans to challenge this in court, he said.

Queensland pro-life activists are facing a number of trespass and other charges for staging sit-ins at abortion clinics. They have taken legal advice and hope to defend their actions by arguing that the 1997 amendment clearly should cover abortion.

Preston gave an example of a pregnant woman assaulted while walking down the road. If her unborn child died her attacker could face life imprisonment, he said. But if the woman concerned was on her way to a clinic to have an abortion, no-one would be held responsible for taking the child's life.

"This just shows the hypocrisy of the abortion position."

In another Australian state, Victoria, authorities decided several years ago that unborn children of 20 weeks' gestation or more who were killed in traffic accidents would from then on be counted in road death toll statistics.