New pro-life model legislation aims to advance state-level respect for life

This week, Americans United for Life is unveiling eight pieces of model pro-life legislation it is dubbing the Infants’ Protection Project.

The collection of proposals, which AUL hopes state legislatures will adopt nationwide, “includes model legislation protecting unborn infants from eugenics, barbaric late-term abortion procedures, and pain; affording legal protection and recognition to unborn children outside of the context of abortion; ensuring that mothers facing a poor prognosis for their unborn children are informed about the availability of hospice care for their families; and recognizing a deceased unborn infant’s right to a dignified treatment, including a respectful burial.”

Specifically, the proposed bills include:

• The Unborn Infants Dignity Act, which mandates all fetal remains be released to their mothers for burial and recognized with death certificates, and forbids aborted fetal remains from being purchased or experimented upon;

• The Missouri Preamble, which affirms that life begins at conception and calls for state laws to be interpreted “to extend every protection to unborn children not prohibited by the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court jurisprudence”;

• The Women’s Health Defense Act, which prohibits abortions past five months of pregnancy;

• The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, a state-level version of the federal ban upheld by the Supreme Court in Gonzales v. Carhart;

• The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, which bans abortions sought for purposes of targeting specific sexes or genetic abnormalities;

• The Perinatal Hospice Information Act, which requires that every pregnant woman who receives a life-limiting fetal diagnosis is also informed of available perinatal hospice services;

• The Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which extends legal protections to all babies delivered live after attempted abortions;

• The Unborn Wrongful Death Act, which allows parents to pursue wrongful death claims on behalf of unborn children at any gestational stage.

AUL further contends that its proposals all pass constitutional muster, as they are consistent with Supreme Court precedent recognizing that the so-called “right” to abortion does not entirely preclude a legitimate state interest in both maternal health and fetal welfare.

All eight proposals can be read in their entirety at Americans United for Life’s website.