{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s231-115/featured_life-at-conception-act-of-2017-1497650738.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s231-115/featured_large_life-at-conception-act-of-2017-1497650738.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s231-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2017-01-24","title_override":"Should Life be Legally Defined as Beginning at Conception?","summary_override":"

This bill would give equal protections to born and unborn humans under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution — effectively banning abortions. It would not amend or interpret the Constitution, but instead rely on the following part of the 14th Amendment to extend protections to the unborn:

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person or life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Following conception, an unborn person would be afforded the same legal protections as those who have already been born. Conception would be defined as the moment of fertilization or cloning, or:

\"other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being.\"

Nothing in this bill is to be construed as:

requiring the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child,
prohibiting in vitro fertilization,
or prohibiting the use of birth control and other methods of contraception (or preventing fertilization).

","official_title":"A bill to implement equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States for the right to life of each born and preborn human person.","short_title":"Life at Conception Act of 2017","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Life at Conception Act of 2017\n\nThis bill declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or other moment at which an individual comes into being.\n\nNothing in this bill shall be construed to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child, a prohibition on in vitro fertilization, or a prohibition on use of birth control or another means of preventing fertilization.","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Unborn humans, their parents, state governments, and Congress.","argument_for":"The time has come for Congress to recognize that the right to life is guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution, including the unborn. 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Should Life be Legally Defined as Beginning at Conception?