A bill in front of the House Judiciary Committe would establish the unborn child to be a person. I strongly doubt it will pass, as this is the House that wanted to fund embryonic stem cell research. If it does, it would establish fetal equality and end legalized abortion in the USA. I also suspect there would be a string of court cases. Really, there would have to be a constitutional amendment for this. Still, it is significant that it is being proposed.
Here are some details from an Agape Press article:
The Right to Life Act, sponsored by California Congressman Duncan Hunter, contains no exceptions for an abortion or compromises any pro-life principles, says Judie Brown of American Life League (ALL) -- and that's why she calls it "the most important piece of pro-life legislation under consideration today."
H.R. 552, which now has 100 co-sponsors in Congress, establishes "equal protection for the right to life of each born and preborn human person" -- then goes on to define "human person" as a member of the species homo sapiens "at all stages of life," including the moment of fertilization, cloning, or "other moment" at which the person "comes into being." ALL president Brown believes such legislation is critical in fight against legalized abortion.
ALL President Judie Brown
"Establishing personhood for the preborn baby is the only way we will see a concrete end to decriminalized abortion in this country," she says. And it has been a long battle, Brown adds. "After 33 years of gnawing at the edges of legal protection for abortion, now is the time for a substantial challenge to the status quo. Without total protection under the law," she says, "preborn children will continue to die."
Congressman Hunter introduced the Right to Life Act in February 2005 with 36 co-sponsors, and it has picked up 25 more since the first of the year. It has now been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee awaiting hearings. "For the first time in years," says Brown, "we have a politically significant number of supporters in Congress who are willing to stand up for life. Now is the time to act."
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