Right to Life Act of 2001

Right to Life Act of 2001 - Declares that the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being at fertilization.

[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1373 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1373

 To protect the right to life of each born and preborn human person in 
                      existence at fertilization.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 3, 2001

Mr. Smith of New Hampshire (for himself, Mr. Helms, and Mr. Brownback) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect the right to life of each born and preborn human person in 
                      existence at fertilization.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Right to Life Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) we, as a Nation, have declared that the unalienable 
        right to life endowed by Our Creator is guaranteed by our 
        Constitution for each human person;
            (2) the Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 at 
        159), stated: ``We need not resolve the difficult question of 
        when life begins . . . the judiciary at this point in the 
        development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to 
        speculate as to the answer . . .'';
            (3) the Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113 at 156-
        157), stated: ``If this suggestion of personhood is 
        established, the appellant's case, of course, collapses, for 
        the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the 
        (Fourteenth) Amendment . . .'';
            (4) the Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, stated that the 
        privacy right is not absolute, and stated (410 U.S. 113, at 
        159) that: ``The pregnant woman cannot be isolated in her 
        privacy. She carries an embryo and, later a fetus. . . . The 
        woman's privacy is no longer sole and any right of privacy she 
        possesses must be measured accordingly.'';
            (5) a human father and mother beget a human offspring when 
        the father's sperm fertilizes the mother's ovum, and the life 
        of each preborn human person begins at fertilization;
            (6) there is no justification for any Federal, State, or 
        private action intentionally to kill an innocent born or 
        preborn human person, and that Federal, State, and private 
        action must assure equal care and protection for the right to 
        life of both a pregnant mother and her preborn child in 
        existence at fertilization;
            (7) Americans and our society suffer from the evils of 
        killing even one innocent born or preborn human person, and 
        each day suffer the torture and slaughter of more than 3,500 
        preborn persons;
            (8) the intentional killing of preborn human persons occurs 
        in Federal enclaves, in interstate commerce activities, and in 
        the States, estimated at 1,300,000 per year and 40,000,000 
        since 1973; and
            (9) the violence of intentionally killing a preborn human 
        person has provoked more violence, carnage, and conflict 
        reaching into homes, schools, churches, workplaces and lives of 
        Americans.

SEC. 3. RIGHT TO LIFE.

    Upon the basis of these findings and in the exercise of duty, 
authority, and powers of the Congress, including its power under 
article I, section 8, to make necessary and proper laws, and including 
its power under section 5 of the 14th article of amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States, the Congress hereby declares that 
the right of life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each 
human being at fertilization.

SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF STATE.

    For the purposes of this Act, the term ``State'' used in the 14th 
article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States and other 
applicable provisions of the Constitution includes the District of 
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each other territory or 
possession of the United States.
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