U.S. Senator Rand Paul has introduced a bill that would provide equal protection for the unborn child.
The "Life at Conception Act" aims to protect the right to life of each born and unborn child under the 14th Amendment. It states that, "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 of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Paul said "it is time for Congress to recognise the right to life is guaranteed to all Americans in the Declaration of Independence, and it is the constitutional duty of all members of Congress to ensure this belief is upheld."
"The Life at Conception Act legislatively declares what most Americans believe and what science has long known—that human life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore, is entitled to legal protection from that point forward. Only when America chooses, remembers, and restores her respect for life will we rediscover our moral bearings and truly find our way," the senator said.
The measure is co-sponsored by Republican Senators Mike Crapo, Jim Inhofe and Jim Risch.
It defines a human being to "include each member of the species homo sapiens at all stages of life, including the moment of fertilisation or cloning, or other moment at which an individual member of the human species comes into being."
The bill says, "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require the prosecution of any woman for the death of her unborn child, a prohibition on in vitro fertilisation, or a prohibition on use of birth control or another means of preventing fertilisation."
Paul clarified that the bill does not amend or seek to interpret the U.S. Constitution.
