It's good to see NOW back up their local members:

The National Organization for Women is sidestepping the uproar ignited when its Morris County chapter president opposed a double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case.

NOW officials declined to comment Monday on statements made this weekend by Mavra Stark, "out of respect for (Peterson's) family and what they're going through," spokeswoman Rebecca Farmer said by telephone from Washington.

Farmer would not say whether NOW opposes fetal homicide statutes that exist in at least 23 states. The laws have been opposed by some pro-choice groups even though legal abortions are exempted from prosecution.

"Right now, the issue is connected to the case," Farmer said.

California's fetal homicide statute is the basis for a second murder charge against Scott Peterson, 30, of Modesto, who is accused of killing his wife when she was eight months pregnant.

Stark, who heads the Morris County NOW, spoke Monday with the national organization's vice president, Terry O'Neill. Stark said O'Neill told her that NOW "felt it wasn't the right thing to take a position right now" on either the Peterson case or fetal homicide statutes.

After her conversation with O'Neill and fielding a flood of critical phone calls and e-mails from across the nation, Stark modified her earlier comments about the widely publicized Peterson case.

"I was thinking out loud," said Stark, who had mused on Saturday that the double-murder charge could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby.

The old "I was thinking out loud" defense. If you say something, own up to it and take the heat. You end up looking as stupid as Trent Lott on BET if you don't.