I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 227 

To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with fertilization. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Mr. BROUN of Georgia (for himself, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. LINDER, Mr. 

GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. LAMBORN, Ms. FALLIN, Mr. HERGER, Mr. JONES, Mr. TERRY, 

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. CARTER, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

INGLIS, Mr. FORBES, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. HENSARLING, 

Mr. WAMP, Mr. AKIN, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. 

MANZULLO, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mr. WILSON of South 

Carolina, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mr. ROGERS of Alabama, 

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. 

TIAHRT, Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. 

EHLERS, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. 

ADERHOLT, Mr. ROONEY, and Mr. LATTA) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide that human life shall be deemed to begin with 

fertilization. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Sanctity of Human 

5 Life Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DECLARATION. 

2 In the exercise of the powers of the Congress, includ3 ing Congress’ power under article I, section 8 of the Con4 stitution, to make necessary and proper laws, and Con5 gress’ power under section 5 of the 14th article of amend6 ment to the Constitution of the United States— 

7 (1) the Congress declares that— 

8 (A) the right to life guaranteed by the 

9 Constitution is vested in each human being, and 

10 is the paramount and most fundamental right 

11 of a person; and 

12 (B) the life of each human being begins 

13 with fertilization, cloning, or its functional 

14 equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function 

15 or disability, defect, stage of biological develop16 ment, or condition of dependency, at which time 

17 every human being shall have all the legal and 

18 constitutional attributes and privileges of 

19 personhood; and 

20 (2) the Congress affirms that the Congress, 

21 each State, the District of Columbia, and all United 

22 States territories have the authority to protect the 

23 lives of all human beings residing in its respective 

24 jurisdictions. 

25 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

26 For purposes of this Act: 


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1 (1) FERTILIZATION.—The term ‘‘fertilization’’ 

2 means the process of a human spermatozoan pene3 trating the cell membrane of a human oocyte to cre4 ate a human zygote, a one-celled human embryo, 

5 which is a new unique human being. 

6 (2) CLONING.—The term ‘‘cloning’’ means the 

7 process called somatic cell nuclear transfer, that 

8 combines an enucleated egg and the nucleus of a so9 matic cell to make a human embryo. 

10 (3) HUMAN; HUMAN BEING.—The terms 

11 ‘‘human’’ and ‘‘human being’’ include each and 

12 every member of the species homo sapiens at all 

13 stages of life, beginning with the earliest stage of de14 velopment, created by the process of fertilization, 

15 cloning, or its functional equivalent. 

Æ 


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