Bill Description: Senate Bill 1059 would expand the protections of Idaho law to preborn children.
Rating: +2
Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the United States Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; 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."
States have chosen to ignore these universal protections and deprive preborn children of their rights and lives by denying their personhood, either in total or in certain situations (such as the circumstances of conception.)
Senate Bill 1059 would create sections 5-311A, 18-926, and 18-4018 Idaho Code; amend Section 18-926, Idaho Code, and repeal Section 18-4016, Idaho Code, to establish and protect the rights of preborn children.
The bill would define a preborn child as "a living human being before birth from the beginning of biological development at the moment of fertilization upon the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum." It would also define "embryo" and "fetus" to mean a preborn child.
According to the legislative intent section of the bill, this law would "protect the lives of preborn persons with the same criminal and civil laws protecting the lives of born persons by removing provisions that enable the commission of willful prenatal homicide and assault."
The bill would not apply to "any act committed prior to the effective date" of the law; "the unintentional death of a preborn child" due to "the undertaking of life-saving procedures to save the life of a mother when accompanied by reasonable steps, if available, to save the life of her preborn child"; or a "spontaneous miscarriage."
(+1)
Does it promote the breakdown of the traditional family or the deconstruction of societal norms? Examples include promoting or incentivizing degeneracy, violating parental rights, and compromising the innocence of children. Conversely, does it protect or uphold the structure, tenets, and traditional values of Western society?
In addition to the protection of a preborn child's individual rights, which should be recognized and protected under the constitution, Senate Bill 1059 would serve to properly align Idaho code to consistently recognize that life begins at conception. This means that personhood and all its associated rights begin at conception rather than at birth.
(+1)
