[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 49 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. J. RES. 49

      Proposing a constitutional amendment to protect human life.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 5, 1998

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
      Proposing a constitutional amendment to protect human life.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House 
concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States:

                              ``Article--

    ``Section 1. The right to life is the paramount and most 
fundamental right of a person.
    ``Section 2. With respect to the right to life guaranteed to 
persons by the fifth and fourteenth articles of amendment to the 
Constitution, the work `person' applies to all human beings, 
irrespective of age, health, function, or condition of dependency, 
including their unborn offspring at every stage of their biological 
development including fertilization.
    ``Section 3. No unborn child shall be deprived of life by any 
person: Provided, however, That nothing in this article shall prohibit 
a law allowing justification to be shown for only those medical 
procedures required to prevent the death of either the pregnant woman 
or her unborn offspring, as long as such a law requires every 
reasonable effort to be made to preserve the lives of both of them.
    ``Section 4. The Congress and the several States shall have the 
power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.''.
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