FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEContact: Matt Hadromatt.hadro@pinkston.co
Pro-life leaders point to equal protection as the ‘North Star’ of the movement
June 15, 2023, DALLAS, Texas — Jeff Bradford, President of Human Coalition, joined other pro-life leaders on Thursday in calling for legal recognition of the personhood of children in the womb under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.Bradford and other pro-life leaders published an open letter on Wednesday, “The New North Star,” where they call on states and the federal government to protect children in the womb “from the earliest embryonic stage,” recognizing these children as persons entitled to equal protection of state and local laws.“I got involved in the pro-life movement for a simple reason: because I believe the child in the womb is a human being and must be protected at the earliest stage,” Bradford stated. “Our laws, if they are to be truly just, must reflect this reality and protect the most vulnerable among us, and that is why I am proud to join this effort.”Chelsey Youman, National Director of Public Policy for Human Coalition, also supported the letter.“We’ve seen throughout history that when a class of human beings is cast as less-than-human, they are in great danger of persecution or even genocide. Yet we still have widespread violent discrimination against children in the womb – it’s the last frontier where such discrimination is state sanctioned.” Youman stated.“Our laws must recognize the human rights of each precious child in the womb. And we have proposed state legislation to do just that through a variety of means.” Youman said.The pro-life letter published on Thursday specifically calls on states and the federal government to grant legal rights to preborn children through: applying fetal homicide, wrongful death, and child endangerment laws to cases where preborn children are victims; passing strong child support laws emphasizing the duties of fathers to support children in the womb; clarifying that embryos in cryopreservation are not legal property and cannot be discarded; granting due process and legal representation to children in the womb; and allowing parents of preborn children to claim them as qualifying children on the child tax credit.Signers of the letter include Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action; Penny Nance, president and CEO of Concerned Women for America; Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life Action/Students for Life of America; Shawn Carney, president and CEO of 40 Days for Life; Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University; Hadley Arkes, founder and director of the James Wilson Institute; and Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 following the Civil War, recognizes “equal protection of the laws” for “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” and forbids states from denying them their rights to “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”“To be pro-life is to affirm that the lives of innocent human beings deserve legal protection from violence, both before and after birth,” the letter states. “There can be no distinction between someone’s biological humanity and his or her legal personhood. All human beings are persons. There are no classes of sub-personal human beings.”“Our North Star in the pro-life movement remains the same as ever: the end of abortion through ensuring the equal protection of the laws. The pro-life movement must direct its steps according to the existing guarantee in our Constitution that secures equal protection for all.”Human Coalition has proposed model legislation that would give strong protections to children in the womb. The 2023 Pro-life Model Legislation Kit includes model bills to protect vulnerable children in the womb from the earliest stage of conception and from threats such as dangerous abortion drugs and abortion trafficking; and ensure that protections for preborn children withstand court challenges and are effective even when delinquent law enforcement officials refuse to enforce the law.About Human CoalitionHuman Coalition is one of the largest pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-family organizations in the country, committed to making abortion unthinkable and unnecessary. Founded in 2009, Human Coalition has grown from a simple internet outreach idea into a comprehensive care network that reaches women facing unexpected pregnancies, rescues innocent preborn children from abortion, and restores families to stability.