What will this bill do?

• Extends equal protection under the law to pre-born persons in the areas of homicide, assault, and civil wrongful death

• Adds the following definitions to three separate chapters within ND Century Code (12.1-16, 12.1-17, 32-21)

  • “Human being” includes an unborn child

  • “Unborn child” means an individual living human child before birth from the beginning of biological development at the moment of fertilization upon the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum

Why is this bill needed?

• To bring our state laws regarding the purposeful death of pre-born babies into compliance with the 14th Amendment which states in part: 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.

  • State laws that allow any person to fatally poison or dismember pre-born persons are in violation of the 14th Amendment and God’s Word. No state has the authority to deny equal protection under the law to pre-born persons in any stage of development, not even in cases of rape or incest. In addition, no state has the authority to grant blanket legal immunity upon certain classes of people (pregnant women) to deprive other classes of people (pre-born children) their right to life. According to our Constitution, we do not criminalize groups of people, we criminalize behavior.

• To protect the lives of the most vulnerable and discriminated among us - pre-born human beings.

• To extend the same laws that protect born people from murder, assault, and wrongful death to pre-born people.

• Abortion numbers are increasing, even in “abortion-free” states, due to the rise of self-managed abortions done in homes rather than in a clinic.

• To shore up our defense against a looming ballot initiative that will codify a right to abortion into our state constitution. The only argument against adding the right to abortion into North Dakota’s constitution is that it violates a higher law: the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. If pro-lifers choose to violate the Constitution within state law due to political pragmatism or false compassion/misguided emotions, then they will have no leg to stand on when it comes time to argue against the so-called constitutional right to abortion.
  

What are the objections to this bill?

• Concern about access to IVF. HB 1373 does NOT ban IVF. This bill criminalizes homicide and assault against an unborn child. The core of the IVF process involves the creation of fertilized human embryos, the storage of these embryos through cryogenic freezing, and the implantation of these embryos in the mother’s womb. Since none of these actions constitute homicide or assault, IVF would remain legal in North Dakota following HB 1373 becoming law. The bill would simply ensure that the IVF industry is treating the tiny human beings it creates with a proper standard of care.

• Concern about a possible political backlash. HB 1373 is the most pro-life bill that a legislator will ever have the opportunity to vote on, and yet Republicans and the pro-life establishment are more concerned with a possible political backlash in the form of an abortion ballot measure that is likely four years away from being introduced. Republicans have the choice to protect pre-born babies now, or merely hope that by leaving them unprotected by the law now, they will somehow protect babies in the future. Republicans who are truly pro-life will reject the temptation to be politically pragmatic and instead, will choose to protect the lives of pre-born children NOW.

• Concern about "criminalizing women” for having an abortion. Under the U.S. Constitution, we do not criminalize groups of people, we criminalize behavior. Abortion is murder. Criminalizing the conduct of murdering babies by abortion shows love for women and a desire for their good because it would deter many law-abiding women from making the decision to kill their child, thus sparing them the devastating regret that follows most women who choose abortion.

Those who oppose equal protection under the law for pre-born persons either believe that the fetus is not a person or they support violating the U.S. Constitution and God’s Law.