On Tuesday, Representative Doug Lamborn introduced House Resolution 464, the Recognizing Life Resolution, acknowledging that preborn children are legal and constitutional persons who are entitled to equal protection of the law, as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. He called on Congress to enact proportional legislation.
Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, praised the resolution, stating:
The United States Constitution guarantees every person equal protection under the law. A child in the womb is a person; therefore a child in the womb is guaranteed equal protection and cannot be violently and unjustly killed through abortion. Congress shares the vital responsibility of ensuring that our constitutional rights are extended and protected. The question of when a human life begins is settled; at the moment of fertilization, a new and genetically distinct human being comes into existence. Science confirms what people throughout all of history have understood: when a woman is pregnant, she is carrying a human child. The Recognizing Life Resolution is an important step towards stopping the illegal homicide of elective abortion. I thank Representative Lamborn and all of the co-sponsors in Congress who are setting a bold pro-life agenda with one goal in mind: complete legal protection for children in the womb and an end to elective abortion in America.
The resolution “calls upon the United States Congress to enact congruent and proportional legislation to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection for unborn children nationwide, and upon the United States Supreme Court to acknowledge and vindicate the right of unborn children to the enjoyment of the equal protection of the laws in every state and federal territory.”
The resolution references the original drafters of the Fourteenth Amendment, including the primary framer, Representative John Bingham, who wanted to ensure that “no state in the Union should deny to any human being . . . the equal protection of the laws.”
It goes on to explain that the drafters and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended that it should apply not only to freedmen and Black Americans but to all members of the human species within the geographical bounds of the Constitution.
The resolution states, “They intentionally selected the expansive language of ‘any person,’ to ensure that no state would ever again subject any class of persons to inferior and invidiously discriminatory treatment.”
It declares “based on sound historical, medical, and scientific evidence” that unborn children are persons and were understood to be as such at the time the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted. The Fourteenth Amendment codifies the protection of life, bodily autonomy, and security for all persons. It does not protect the so-called right to abortion as was wrongfully determined by the Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe v. Wade.
Finally, the resolution calls upon the United States Congress to pass subsequent legislation to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection for the unborn and upon the United States Supreme Court to acknowledge the right of unborn children to the full and equal protection of the laws throughout the nation.
“While we are grateful that Roe has been overturned, there is still much work to be done to advance and strengthen the protection of human life, beginning in the womb,” said Congressman Lamborn.
He added, “The Recognizing Life Resolution is the new north star for the pro-life movement that will guide future legislation and set the precedent for our nation to secure equal protection for unborn children and preserve the sanctity of life. I am pleased to introduce this resolution and look forward to continuing the pro-life momentum already making waves around the nation.”
